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Bringing sexy back to Social Security

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By Nicole Lapin
CNN
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(CNN) -- So maybe it's not the sexiest issue on the campaign trail. But if it's up to the founders of Students for Saving Social Security, it will be.

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S4's mascot is the ostrich, a sign for Congress to "get their heads out of the sand," Patrick Wetherille says.

The organization, known as S4, sees a chance to make the issue a hot one now.

"Now" is a big thing for the activist group that has a presence on colleges across the country. Its members fear that young people don't think they have to care about Social Security until it's too late. According to the Social Security Administration, the system is facing a $13.4 trillion shortfall.

"There's a lot of money at stake here," explained Patrick Wetherille, 24, co-founder of S4. "Right now, Social Security is sort of on a crash course. Over the next 10 years, it's going to start taking in less money than it's able to pay out."

Video Watch Wetherille's CNN.com Live interview »

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S4 advocates the use of more personal retirement accounts to tighten the gap. It's a solution conservatives often support. But its members maintain that the group is nonpartisan and that they only want Social Security to have more presence in political dialogue.

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That way, they hope, when the time comes for them to depend on it, it will be there.

Wetherille says he's just one of the many passionate members of S4. "I would love for our generation to be the one that takes this on and really fixes it, not just for us but for other generations," he said. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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