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Seniors Have Plenty Riding On This Election
Who shall it be?
Seldom in my 70 years has there been an
election with so many senior issues on the block. Privatize Social
Security. Eliminate Medicare's donut hole or, eliminate Medicare.
Legalize importing affordable drugs. Increase our minimum wage. (One in
five of us over 65 works, often for diddly-squat.)
And, perhaps, most important to those of us who still remember a
government that was of, by, and especially for the people: Rescue our
democracy.
The issues are clear. But whom shall we vote for?
The Republicans_
- Who failed to pass any substantive
legislation this term except to provide half the money to fence
one-third of our southern border?
-
Who buried every bill that would have improved seniors' lives?
- Who pushed our country to the brink
of bankruptcy?
- Who refused to demand even minimal
competence and planning from their leaders?
- Who shamed themselves and our nation
by voting for torture and against Constitutional and human rights dating
back to 1215 A.D.?
- Who are so morally crippled that
they've sacrificed our treasury, our jobs, our homeland, even our safety
to oil, chemical, timber, mining, insurance, pharmaceutical, and defense
corporations for the sake of a buck, a free trip, or casual sexual
companionship?
- And who seem incapable of contrition
for past mistakes - witness New Orleans, Afghanistan and Iraq - and
blind to the certain future catastrophe of warring with Iran?
Or the Democrats_
- Who are equally opportunistic,
equally susceptible to scandal?
- Who fear the Republican press and
propaganda machine more than they fear losing, not just elections but
democracy itself?
- Who haven't the courage to get behind
a single original idea to save their political skins?
- Who silently and uncannily blend into
the Congressional woodwork while the majority party gives away the
store?
- And who cower from any discussion of
the plight of the aged poor, the uneducated, the uninsured, and the
dispossessed, those unfortunates who once were the heartbeat of the
party?
Today, both parties appear to take
orders from the same boss. No, not we the people, but corporations that
value their own profits far more than they value their own country.
Tough choice.
Lose Medicare and Social Security?
Where's a third-party superman like
Teddy Roosevelt when we need him? Unfortunately, our two major parties
have made third parties all but impossible in this country.
If we decide that status quo is as good as we can get, we must prepare
ourselves for completely privatized Medicare and Social Security, for a
likely attack on Iran while Iraq and Afghanistan fall into a pit of
death and sorrow, and for further "inalienable" rights to be suspended
for the duration of an unending war.
And somewhere down the road, we must steel ourselves for a calamitous
economic collapse when China and others (we even owe Mexico!) demand
repayment of debt - all that money Congress has been squandering wildly
these last six years for wars, tax cuts and corporate favors.
The other day, I asked a friend who is
active in the Democratic establishment what the heck was wrong with his
party. He responded, "The
Democrats lack heart, lack vision, lack leadership and, in my view, lack
a coherent plan of how to maximize their resources."
That's not promising.
The Republicans, on the other hand,
are unexcelled at winning elections. Problem is, we can't expect a
party to govern well that is cynical toward democracy - witness
recent unabashed gerrymandering and election tampering - and
dead-set against the power of government to help folks.
One thing is clear. The party in power is inept. Like a favorite old
aunt who no longer can be trusted with money, we must take away
their checkbook.
If the Democrats win power in both houses of Congress, they must
quickly find their groove. They must realize that they have to
perform like the patriots they once were or risk losing everything
in 2008.
So what should one do? We all know the stakes, the choices. We can
hold our noses if we must, but we can't not vote.
Personally as a registered Independent who over the years has voted
Democratic, Republican, even - and as a person who has closely
watched seniors' and others' rights dwindle over the last six years
- I'll vote for change.
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