Is Medicaid on the chopping block? Will Social Security be trimmed back? Are the knives out for Medicare?

These are huge concerns for Americans who depend upon these entitlements for health care and survival. Those who have enthusiastically championed massive cuts in the federal government are now reflecting on how critical the Medicaid program, for example, is for their constituents and local economies. Imagine the harm done medically and economically when rural community hospitals would wither without these federal dollars.

A large measure of public angst on these issues is derived from distrust in our politicians. We have seen them engage in flip-flopping, backtracking, u-turning, ‘evolving’ and other iterations of political gymnastics. Can we really be reassured by what they are saying today or when on the campaign trail? (Hint: We can’t.) When they reassure us that there will be no cuts in (insert government program here), can we trust them? (Hint: We can’t.)

Isn’t closing Social Security offices across the country a form of a cut even if the monthly check amount remains the same?

Isn’t instituting a work requirement for certain Medicaid recipients a form of a cut since many enrollees who cannot meet these requirements will be taken off the rolls?

I understand that technically a politician can declare that an entitlement has not been cut if the dollar amount remains stable, but this is rather disingenuous if not downright dishonest.

Consider this example, which is a product of my imagination:

An east coast individual sends in $500 per month via a bank transfer to a charity in California. He notifies the charity that going forward, a representative of the charity must travel to his Manhattan office on the 1^st of every month to receive the monthly $500 donation. The charity, of course, is unable and unwilling to comply with the expense and hardship of the new process. Can the donor truthfully maintain that he has not cut his charitable donation?

It’s an absurd hypothetical, but you get my point. We face so much political legerdemain and outright mendacity, all of which serves as rocket fuel for our growing cynicism.

So the next time you hear one of your elected officials profess with religious zeal that no benefits will be touched, look behind or underneath the statement to search out the truth.