I just got an email from a guy that went something like this: "You are sooooo right. You hit the nail on the head buddy. Social Security is just a tax. As soon as Americans realize this, we will be so much better off." That was his entire message.

I scratched my head and wondered what this guy was talking about. And then I remembered a column I'd written many years ago with that "Social Security is just a tax" message. The guy must have been digging deep into the Internet to find it. I did a little excavating myself through my cobwebbed files and uncovered the old column and realized that the kind of thinking that prompted me to write it is still prevalent today. So I think the message bears repeating. Let's dust off (and slightly update) that column and run it again. Here it goes:

I'm writing this at two o'clock in the morning. So I'm not sure if the message I'm trying to convey in this column is a startling revelation ... or the mindless meanderings of a half-asleep brain!

There I was trying to sleep. But I was troubled by some recent comments from readers about Social Security that were running through my head. That's the downside to spending your entire adult life either working for the Social Security Administration or writing a newspaper column about Social Security issues. Instead of dreaming about my lovely wife, or dreaming about ... well you know, the kinds of things guys dream about ... boring old me was thinking about Social Security as an investment.

Those muddled musings were prompted by a recent email I received; one that included comments similar to those I've heard from people almost every day for the past 40 years. The comment generally goes something like this: "If I could have invested all that money Social Security took out of my paycheck, I'd be a millionaire today!"

The most recent such claim, the one that prompted my sleepless night, came from a guy who somehow calculated exactly how rich he'd be. In fact, he had it down to the penny. Had that big bad government not stolen from his paycheck in the form of Social Security taxes, he'd have $7,466,847.69 in his bank account!

My normal response to such allegations takes two tacks. For one thing, these calculations assume you would have religiously invested every nickel of your Social Security tax each week for the past 40 years or so. And, of course, they also assume the market doesn't take a tailspin sometime before you were planning to tap into your personal Social Security account.

Also, in this guy's case, I pointed out in my emailed response to him that if he claims he would have gotten back $7 million, I'd guess other Social Security taxpayers could expect the same. Well, there are about 150 million Social Security taxpayers in this country. If they each will get $7 million, that comes out to something like a gazillion dollars! I mean, is this a great country or what? Sign me up for this guy's Social Security plan tomorrow!

The second point I usually make to these folks is that Social Security was never meant to be a personal investment scheme. It is and always has been just what its name implies: a social insurance system. It guarantees a basic level of support for you and your spouse if you retire or become disabled, or for the young children and widow or widower of a family breadwinner who dies.

But what kept me up tonight is that I got to thinking something more radical: Maybe Social Security isn't a social insurance program or an investment. Maybe it's just another tax we pay.

So why do we think of it in terms of an investment? Of course, I know part of the answer to that question. Social Security has always been touted as the one government program where you pay an earmarked tax into the program, records are kept of those taxes and your earnings, and then someday you get a benefit that is based, in part, on those numbers. In other words, there is a demonstrable "return on your investment."

But why is that really different than any other tax we pay? You pay federal income taxes, and in return you get the world's largest military force. You get national parks. You get a space program. You get embassies all over the world to serve our needs in foreign countries. You get a highway system. You get air traffic controllers to keep you safe when you're flying across the country. The list goes on and on.

And for the state and local taxes you pay, you get schools and libraries. You get your garbage picked up and your streets cleaned.

Do we ever say: "If I could have invested those state taxes I paid, I would have built a much nicer library?" Or do we claim: "If I could have invested those federal income taxes the government stole from me, I would have created my own private park in a scenic area and it sure would be much more impressive than Yellowstone?"

So why do we think that way with Social Security? Maybe Social Security is simply another tax you pay. And instead of getting back a school or a tank or a new visitor center in a national park, you get a pension.

So was I onto something with that old column? Or should I have stayed in bed and never got up to scribble down those crazy thoughts?

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him at thomas.margenau@comcast.net. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.