I’ll keep this brief because maybe the big mistake plaguing liberal groups like MoveOn.org in their attempt to change people’s minds is that they talk too much. I mean, if you really don’t know which party is protecting Medicare and which party isn’t, then you probably aren’t willing to read seven paragraphs or even anything longer than a facebook status. The bottom line is that without voters over the age of 55, the Republican Party would not be in charge of the House of Representatives, a stone’s throw away from controlling the Senate, or in serious danger of reclaiming the White House.
So what the older people of this country NEED to do is ask themselves one question: Do you like Social Security and Medicare now? And if you’re just shy of collecting it, would you like to be able to collect it one day? If so, you need to once and for all cut your voting ties to the Republican Party. These programs were started by a Democrat (FDR). They have been challenged ever since by Republican politicians hoping to chip away at them or privatize them completely (George W. Bush, Paul Ryan in just more recent history), of course forgetting that privatizing them defeats the entire damn purpose.
Now I realize that older voters would like to vote their cultural values. They feel lost in a world with a black president, gay marriage, and rapidly growing Latino population. I get that this must seem upside down from the world they grew up in, but that stuff is happening whether they like it or not. They can’t stop it, and it will continue long after they’re dead, but Social Security and Medicare might not. If they want their friends or kids or in some cases grandkids to collect money from these life-saving programs they have paid into their entire lives, then they have to vote responsibly in the next election. And by responsibly I mean for the one party that doesn’t think Social Security is a “Ponzi Scheme,” I’m talking about the Democrats.
Great post. Call to action is needed to save this country