As I have demonstrated by starting the debate in this thread, once the government starts handing out benefits based on a citizen’s marital status or parental status - personal choices among many others - in an attempt to encourage some and discourage others of those personal choices according to some value judgment, then you open up an endless debate on the value of those personal choices. The true conservative principle would be to NOT hand out benefits based on personal choices but to treat everyone equally. Olson is therefore wrong.

“While you’re working, you pay taxes to support to people who are too old to work.”

If one is childless, he/she pays no less than someone with children. The is no free or free loading to be had. They have already paid their share into the system. The major difference is he/she leaves behind no additional burden for the next generation to support when the non existent child gets old. And even if one agrees with your pretzel logic, having an only child (one can only assume that means you based on your reference to your offspring in the singular) means you should count yourself among the subsidized. Since your only child is not going to pay double to support both you and your wife.

Social security is a pay as you go system. While you’re working, you pay taxes to support to people who are too old to work. When you’re too old to work the next generation pays taxes to support you.

It is based on a social model where everyone gets married and has kids. At the time it was created, the unmarried and childless were pitied. That social model is now broken and so is Social Security which always was a ticking time bomb of a Ponzi scheme.

Freeloaders without children use such derogatory terms as “breeders” and complain about having to pay taxes to educate other people’s kids. “I wanna keep it all for myself, I have a vacation coming up” I hear them whine. You better hope that other person’s kid gets a good education and becomes a high wage earner so s/he can pay you the benefits to which you think you’re entitled.

The silver lining is that at least the freeloaders keep themselves out of the gene pool.

For example, I consider hetero couples who don’t bother to have children to be freeloaders. Why should my kid be taxed to pay their social security and medicare? They should be able to take of themselves quite nicely on the money they didn’t spend on raising kids. What? Spent it all running with the fancy people? Tough.