"Golden Years" is more than a song by David Bowie. It is the term that described the time that elapses from when a person retires from his or her chosen profession to the time that he or she "shuffles loose this mortal coil." Thanks in no small part to the rock-solid alliance between America's senior demographic and the Democratic Party, those "golden" years have heretofore been golden indeed. Senior citizens have routinely seen increases in their Social Security and Medicare entitlements over that past thirty to forty years, and they in turn have given their loyalty and support to democratic politicians. However, in the time since the near market collapse of September, 2008, senior citizens have seen thier "golden" years turn to lead painted with gold paint. Most seniors have seen their life's savings evaporate, whether in the stock market decline or in the real estate collapse, and they have seen their costs of living rising steadily. Now, thanks to the legislative agenda of the Democratic Party, they are looking as substantially higher costs on every single product and service they rely upon.
One would think that the old adage "dance with the one that brung 'ya" would serve to protect the senior population from the democrats' reckless and proflagate spending agenda, but the sad reality is that you would be wrong. In nearly EVERY version of the so-called "health care reform" bills, democrats in Congress are proposing paying for the new entitlement at the expense of the already troubled Medicare program. If you're a senior citizen on a fixed income, you can't help but wonder how the government is going to cut half a billion dollars from a program that's nearly bankrupt as things NOW stand, without severely curtailing your benefits, thereby increasing your COSTS. At a time in life when seniors HAVE to live on a fixed income and a tight budget, if their out of pocket costs go up, their quality of life MUST go down.
Today's senior citizens have been sacrificing their entire lives. This is the generation that saw us through the Great Depression, that fought and WON World War II, that fought and WON the Cold War, and that has worked hard all their lives to give themselves and their families the highest standard of living in the world. Now, in their twilight years, the democrats are demanding further sacrifices from our seniors because in passing any or all of its' legislative agenda, senior citizens are going to find themselves with health care expenses they can't afford to pay, utility bills they can't afford, and a social security check that will not get them from one month to anther without substantially reducing their expenses, thereby diminishing the quality of of their lives and severely diminishing the enjoyment of those lives. Just as it was before the Republican party passed the prescription drug benefit, seniors are once again looking at having to choose between healthcare, utilities, and food. They have been through too much to have to shop for their food in the pet food aisle at the local supermarket.
The reason I chose the title I did, was that in addition to incorporating a movie title, I have a seventy year old "mama" that will be very negatively affected by nearly every one of the democrat's proposed pieces of legislations. My mother has been through a LOT in the preceding decade or so of her life. She had a major stroke which left her left side completely paralyzed, a second minor stroke, open heart surgery to replace her heart valves, and last February she fell in or bathroom shattering her kneecap and requiring two surgeries, an extensive convalescence at a convalescent home which she had to pay for out of her own pocket because neither Medicare, nor her Medicare Advantage plan covered that particular expense. It came to more than $25,000.00 our of her pocket In the legislation now pending, a government bureaucrat might have concluded she was not worth all that expense and she might have had to languish in a nursing home for the remainder of her life wtih painful pins holding her leg together.
I also know that my mother's social security and pension benefits are barely enough to pay her bills as they are NOW. Imagine if Congress succeeds in passing Cap n' Trade and her power bills DOUBLE what they are now? If the proflagate government spending continues, inflation will make the dollar worth less and everything will cost more. How is someone on a fixed income who's not even confident in a cost-of-living adjustment to social security supposed to absorb this? Something will have to give, and that something will diminish the quality of enjoyment of life for most if not ALL senior citizens. And, for the record, it's not just ME saying these things. I heard all this and more when I took my mother to the local senior center earlier this week. The prospect of the looming health care reform bills is something that is TERRIFYING local seniors as well as anyone that has a health care issue.
So why would an organization as politically astute as the Democratic Party has proven itself to be in the past six years risk alienating its' largest and most reliable constituency? No single answer to that query makes any sense, but if you look at a variety of consequences, either intentional or unintentional, you begin to see a pattern emerging. Whatever politically esoteric label you want to put on democratic (and sadly, SOME republican as well) politicians, they are about ONE thing, and one thing only, POWER! They have something in their DNA that makes them think they are entitled to it. They forget that they work for US, not the other way around. They forget that they are representatives, NOT rulers.
Democrats in particular are infected with this disease of arrogance. When they lost Congress in 1994 and were related to the "cheap" seats for nearly twelve years, they SEETHED with rage and did everything they could do to undermine the republicans, and attempt to sabotage every program and policy regardless of the consequences to national security or public safety. Their attack dogs in the press virtually committed TREASON exposing our national defense policies on the front pages of ther papers and magazines. Any challenge of this nature, however, was met with the rhetoric about dissent being patriotic, and we should ALWAYS question our government. Funny how that seems to NOT be the case now that THEY control that government and they want to make certain that they never LOSE that control again. That's the only way you can explain the "double standard" democrats insist on hiding behind. So , assuming all this is true, you're probably asking "If democrats are all about keeping power, why would they risk alienating their most reliable constituency?"
The answer is simple and can be given in one word, MONEY. It takes a LOT of money to mount effective political campaigns, and senior citizens live mostly on fixed incomes. As the "baby boomer" generation retires, they go from being producers to being consumers and will be less likely to make the kinds of contributions to the democratic party coffers that they did as working people. The younger voting demographic, however, will be earning, paying taxes, and thanks in part to twelve or more years of liberal political indoctrination in schools, will be more likely to make their contributions to the democratic party. So the democrats are gambling that the money and votes they net from the younger demographic will be enough to offset the votes they MIGHT lose from the senior citizens. When it comes to the "boomer generation" the democrats know that more of those are lifelong liberals and believe that they will be far more likely to remain loyal to the democratic party regardless of its' policies.
Nevertheless, if is a real risk the democrats are taking. Younger people are notoriously unreliable when it comes to actually VOTING, esp in mid-term and more local elections. Another disadvantage of counting on the young is then they tend to get older, and with age some wisdom also sets in. In the words of the immortal Sir Winston Churchill, "If you're not liberal when you're twenty you have no heart, but if you're not conservative when you're forty, you have no brain." It's never too late to reform a liberal. If you doubt this, just look at Dick Morris. Last point is, that with senior citizens living longer, and being far more reliable voters, this ploy of catering to the younger demographic at the EXPENSE of the senior one, may very well backfire on the democrats. Only TIME will tell, and the time most telling will be in November of 2010 and November of 2012! As Rush Limbaugh so aptly put it, "I hope they FAIL!"
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