( CNN ) -- Seventy-nine years ago this week , as he signed the Social Security Act into law , my grandfather , President Franklin D. Roosevelt , observed , `` The civilization of the past hundred years , with its startling industrial changes , has tended more and more to make life insecure . Young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age . '' The first half of that sentiment carries even more weight today than it did then . Recent decades have witnessed changes in technology , in the workplace , and in the work force , that would have been difficult to imagine in 1935 . As our economy continues to recover from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression , we 're finding it necessary to adapt to a new economy that bears little resemblance to that of previous generations . But as for the latter half of that sentiment , it is astonishing is how untrue it rings today . Even without the assurance of walking out the door 40 years down the line with a gold watch and a pension , younger Americans today have far less reason to fear living out their final years in abject poverty . The reason , quite simply , is that Social Security has been one of the most successful programs in our nation 's history . According to the Census Bureau , more than 35 % of Americans age 65 and older were below the poverty line in 1959 . Today , that number is below 10 % . Take into consideration the families who receive Social Security benefits on account of the premature death of a parent or disability , and in 2012 Social Security lifted more than 22 million Americans out of poverty . I 'll admit that contributing to my appreciation of the Social Security program is that it is one of my grandfather 's proudest legacies . The Social Security Act fundamentally transformed America by putting in place a commitment to the most vulnerable members of our society ; that commitment has been expanded with the additions of Medicare and Medicaid and strengthened by the reforms put in place by the Affordable Care Act . I also had the opportunity to work in the Social Security Administration , which has helped bring to light just how disingenuous are the attacks lobbed against the program 's long-term viability . Despite Social Security 's extraordinary success , and the program 's deep popularity with the American people , it has been targeted with lies and distortions by those who would seek to end the program as we know it based on rigid ideology . We have been repeatedly told that the program is bankrupting our country or is insolvent . Critics who point to the glut of Baby Boomers entering retirement seem to forget that their generation has paid into the system since they started working about 50 years ago . Their Social Security benefits have been earned , not handed to them . In truth , as laid out in the Trustees ' annual report , Social Security is still projected to be able to pay out full benefits for nearly another two decades . Even without any action by lawmakers , the program would still be able to pay out about 75 % of scheduled benefits after that point . The American people should be skeptical of Republican leaders who suggest that the only way to save the program for future generations is to gut it . In 2006 , opposition to President George W. Bush 's plan to privatize Social Security was part of the platform that contributed to Democrats winning control of the House and Senate . In 2016 , Republicans could nominate a candidate like Rand Paul , who just last week suggested that we increase the retirement age for Social Security by five years . Social Security has afforded millions of Americans the opportunity to retire with dignity after a lifetime of hard work . Raising the retirement age would severely threaten to take that away from people who 've done the best they can day in and day out , but for whom the demands of their job make working into their 70s unrealistic . And it is frightening to think what would have happened to the earliest Baby Boomers , who reached retirement in the aftermath of the economic crisis , had they been totally subject to the whims of Wall Street where they may have lost everything . Because of my grandfather 's polio , he relied on my grandmother who shared with him accounts of the poverty she observed around the country . Those stories fortified his resolve to enact a program that would address the extreme hardship of struggling Americans . The paucity of such stories in America today should not be misinterpreted as a sign that we no longer need Social Security but instead taken as proof of the program 's success , and evidence of the importance of its continued existence for future generations . Join us on Facebook.com/CNNOpinion .
George W. Bush 's , grandson of FDR , wants FDR to thrive well into the future . He says American today have far less reason to fear living out This week in poverty . their final years marks the program 's 79th anniversary .