Demonstrators in Solvang gather to ‘Protect Our Checks’

Protest in front of Veterans Building on Aug. 16 part of a nationwide event; demonstrations also happen in Santa Barbara and Lompoc

For the third time this year, local demonstrators lined up in front of the Solvang Veterans Memorial Building on Saturday, Aug. 16, to protest the policies of President Donald Trump. The latest demonstration, was titled “Protect Our Checks,” amid concerns that the president’s policies will threaten Social Security.

Worries about the federal program came after recemt comments made by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called a new Trump initiative a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.” Bessent later clarified his statement in a social media post and said the Trump Administration is “committed to protecting Social Security and to making sure seniors have more money.”

On Thursday, Aug. 14, Trump signed a proclamation honoring the 90th anniversary of Social Security, and siad he said he will honor his “sacred promise” made on the campaign trail to protect the program.

The Solvang rally, as well as many across the country, including ones in Santa Barbara and Lompoc, was held on Aug. 16 because it was two days after the 90th anniversary of the Social Security legislation being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The local protest was organized in part by Indivisible SYV, a local political action group.

Crowds stood along the sidewalk in front of the Veterans Building on Mission Drive (a few on the other side of the street) with signs with slogans like “Make America Think Again,” “Democracy Not Dicktators,” and “Crybaby-in-Chief” while some motorists passing by honked their support. While Social Security was the catalyst for this particular protest, demonstrators also had other issues in mind.

“This is happening because we just had the anniversary of FDR signing Social Security into law,” said protester Donna Small. “But we also have our issues with the ICE immigration raids and the redistricting in Texas. We need to keep people aware of what’s going on.”

Also at the protest, leading the crowd in chants via his bullhorn was Benjamin Vizzachero, who had a personal reason for attending the rally.

“I got fired by the Trump administration after the budget cuts,” Vizzachero said. “I got involved with the group [Indivisible SYV] and I thought it needed a little more energy.”

One part-time local resident who wasn’t at the Solvang rally, has been a booming voice in support of Democratic Party causes.

Jon Bauman, who has a home in the Santa Ynez Valley, is the president of a national political action committee called Social Security Works, which advocates for protecting and expanding Social Security, and is also a member of the steering committee of Indivisible SYV, a local branch of the national organization that has established itself as one of the key groups resisting the current administration’s policies.

However, many remember Bauman by his nickname “Bowzer,” and his standing as one of the lead singers for the popular group Sha Na Na in the 1970s and ‘80s, a deep-voiced, musclebound, slicked-back-hair crooner who could belt out the band’s trademark ‘50s doo-wop sounds with the best of them at concerts and during the group’s weekly TV show.

These days he’s still using his booming voice to work up a crowd, but this time mostly with the help of a bullhorn at rallies protesting many of the Trump administration’s severe budget cuts, federal worker layoffs and harsh immigration policies. Small said Bauman was taking part in the Protect Your Checks protest in Bakersfield that day.

The theme of the Aug. 16 rallies is one that’s particularly close to Bauman’s heart. Since his Sha Na Na days, he’s become a nationally known expert on Social Security legislation and an advocate for a variety of senior issues. It has been widely publicized that if no changes are made in Social Security funding, benefits may have to be cut by as soon as 2034. Recent statements from Trump’s Secretary of the Treasury have made Bauman even more worried about the future of Social Security.

“Treasury Secretary (Scott) Bessent really did say the quiet part out loud the other day when he said ‘Oh, this is a backdoor way of privatizing Social Security,’” Bauman said in a press release before that protests, referring to the $1,000 ‘Trump Accounts’ for newborns that are envisioned in what Bauman calls the “Big Ugly Budget Bill” that Congress passed in July.

To Bauman, the Protect Our Checks rallies was provide a way for people to support not only the future of Social Security, but other threatened programs that are critical to seniors, including Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.

“The biggest line of attack are the DOGE cuts,” Bauman said, referring to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has slashed the number of  Social Security employees by 7,000, or more than ten percent. “They’re trying to destroy the Social Security Administration so that it doesn’t function. And then they’ll say ‘Oh, see this whole program doesn’t work … we’ll have to give it over to Wall Street and they’ll make it work.’”

Back at the Solvang rally, protester Mike Brady, who is a 50-year resident of the city, said he was speaking out for Social Security, but his reason for being there was much broader.

“I’m here because I belive in democracy,” he said. “Our constitution is being taken away, and if we let it, there’s nothing left but a dictator. Do we want that? I say no.”