Social Security is a really bad deal for millennials, as my colleague Julian Adorney perfectly illustrated in a recent piece in National Review. It effectively garnishes wages, it prevents us from paying down debt in a timely manner, and creates a bias against savings. The benefit of responsible, private investment of retirement savings far exceed the returns from Social Security. But the negative effects of Social Security, and its entitlement partner Medicare, go beyond the personal finances of prospective recipients.

You can see their negative legacy in the fact that credible allegations of sexual abuse have not sunk the candidacy of Alabama Senate hopeful Roy Moore. Or that similar scandals didn’t derail Donald Trump’s presidential bid. It’s also present in the public’s extreme disapproval of Congress. Social Security and Medicare’s existence as third rails of policy have made our politics stale, and contributed to rampant partisanship and gridlock. They’ve effectively limited the scope of legislative possibility, which is one factor (among many) responsible for the hyper-polarized atmosphere we find ourselves in now.