So. The elderly are waking up after dozing off watching The Price is Right, with Drew Carey. They are witnessing a president that says he is for them and all else, yet, the man doesn’t have to live on social security, so why should he worry about it right? That’s someone else’s problem, right? It comes down this flow chart of thinking that produces enlightenment. Not all of the elderly have memory problems and quite a few are very lucid. They are the ‘silent majority’, at least a high percentage are, but they make for some crucial points here and there. Where else outside of Arizona or other major retirement states does the senior vote count as much? Florida is a bevy of mature Americans and as mentioned, for the lack of better words, they are not all out-of-it! Quite the contrary. My late mother made it to 83. While I was her caregiver for nine months after her accident until her passing, the woman was as lucid and even as funny as ever! Opinions? Wow! She had those right to the end. My point is that many older individuals are bright and have lived through quite a few turbulent times. It is on their experience that the turn around is taking place. That is aggravated and brought to life due to an irritation that none of them can stand any longer….President Trump!
He has demonstrated that a person is capable of messing up things so badly that it will take generations to make up for it all. Amazing! And older folks see it clearly. Social security is just the tip of the iceberg. The following further illustrates what those retirees have taken to heart:
- Social Security affects not only a monthly paycheck, but also Medicare, Medicaid, Veteran Programs, Old Age Pension, along with a list of others. They along with younger people, are dependent on the mentioned. Removing those do nothing to help the economy and will hurt the country in the worst ways possible. Poverty is not something they want to strive for.
- Food Stamps (SNAP) reductions do nothing to help seniors. My mother needed them and lived fine until the end. Once she was gone, it ended. One Republican senator had mentioned. “They don’t eat much. So the expense is lower than younger people.” Might be true to a degree, but they do need food and social security, veteran pensions and even personal pensions (for those fortunate enough to worked the best years of their lives in unions to obtain), go towards housing/rent, food (as much as possible), credit cards, gas, utilities among other expenses. After that is substracted from their income, a majority rely on SNAP. Taking that away is mean and insane, both!
- Stimulus checks have been halted by another man that need not worry about retirement or much else, Mitch McConnell. The majority leader does make great roadblocks and barricades when it comes to bills introduced to him by The House. Stubborn and rushing to get a questionable person nominee into a Supreme Court Justice position, McConnell has given a clear and present message. You are secondary old folks! Plain and simple. Trump even said that COVID-19 mostly affects those in elderly ages. Though a majority of victims are elderly, it has dealt a blow to all other age brackets. It is not a good thing that it could not be contained to the range of folks that Donald (never met a virus I didn’t like!) Trump mentioned. Does he not realize that as it was once said, ‘money is something you might need if you don’t die tomorrow.’? Most seniors will not and do need money now! They don’t have long to go no matter what, life is short. However, while living, they are entitled to the best possible life that we can afford.
- Veteran angst — Calling veterans ‘losers’ is a questionable thing. Though denied, much evidence suggest otherwise. Circumstantial to a degree, enough of that concept has slipped out and no one is forgetting that one, rest assured. A vast majority of retirees are veterans of every kind. All gave some, some gave all, to coin the phrase regarding POW’s (prisoners of war) and MIA (missing in action). It behooves society to honor these great Americans, not belittle them. They do not feel a connection with Trump since he talks not knowing anything much about the military for he never served. That would not be possible without those that defend our country. Why he doesn’t see the logic and feels that way is beyond anyone’s comprehension, especially with ‘old school’ (don’t mean an insult with that) senior vets. And those close to them feel the same way. The man and his administration do not have much for them nor do they care much either. Slighted they are, as am I that is and have come from a long line of veterans in wars and stateside. They are one group that has taken a one hundred and eighty degree turn and with stupendous reasons. Respect is one good one!
- The future — Way beyond even the state of things for seniors right now, many are not just thinking of themselves, but their friends, families, communities, churches and would like to know that the world might be better off when they leave this life after contributing so much blood, sweat and tears in their younger years. They made this country great and don’t want to see it go downhill and perhaps die knowing that things might get worse. Again. The seniors look at Trump and his people as self serving clowns that are hell bent on giving the whole friggin’ circus away!
- Validation — Dignity is hard to feel when an important person says that you are a part of ‘natural selection’ in that COVID-19 affects you more than anyone else. If that is so, why doesn’t Donald Trump care about the disposition of the elderly? Again. Retirement to him is not an issue. Also, he looks at the books and is concerned about the ‘business end of things’, nothing else. In other words, he does not see them spending much money, unlike younger people whom perpetually spend and have the means to do so unless unemployed or destitute, either. The man knows that they don’t party, travel all that much, are not working and creating a huge ‘tax base’, pay little, if any, taxes for The US Treasury and cost in the form of government services, such as the mentioned. What is their appraised worth? That’s it! He does not feel on the same level as them. His thinking is that they don’t give us much money, but we give them a lot more. That’s not profit! If a person doesn’t get that and is not at least tacitly upset with that psychological explanation about Trump and his people’s perspectives of seniors, then we need to check for a pulse! No living person can be happy with that outlook and respective action from those that have been elected to ‘take care of the American citizens’ and ‘the country’. Politicians have failed their given duties and made a mockery of things!
When I read the bit about Florida and why seniors are straying away from Trump and the GOP, it struck a nerve and I had to think what it is that is important to them and why. More importantly, a good amount of them that have an expressed interest in the image of Republicans as a whole. A few have said that it is no longer ‘The Grand Old Party’ anymore. Rather, over the last few decades, they have faltered in at least some way per administration. Donald Trump and his people have let them down (seniors). They have also bungled the COVID-19 crisis, tried to disrupt the USPS, threatened to eliminate social security and most other government services, have had violent conflicts in the streets of America, have a president that maintains that COVID is not a problem in spite of him and those around him getting sick, not getting a Stimulus Package together due to one old fool (McConnell doesn’t worry!), is preoccupied with the pending election, and to top it off, a Supreme Court Justice position open due to attrition after blocking the same under The Obama Administration. The rule has been that all protocol and decency is ‘null and void’!
With all that in mind, is it any wonder that most seniors are taking to voting for Joe Biden this time around? Again. They are waking up and are just as vested, if not more so, in our beloved country. The United States of America was built by them, they deserve much better and are poised to secure their interests. Not just for themselves, but for everyone else, because they recognize the truth and have also recognized those that haven’t told them the truth for the most part. With bifocals, they can start to focus and guess what...they see all the bullshit! Can’t fool all the people all the time. And this time has come. Many don’t see the days of actual Republicans, but replicas that are actually far removed from the GOP as it once had been. The same party that President Abraham Lincoln was a part of and many great others, has unfortunately (and I am a Democratic ally) become a shell of itself. They say that ‘times change, people don’t’. Would be hard pressed to apply this to Donald Trump and those in concert with them. Collectively, they have lied, cheated, stolen and steal, both, along with just being about power versus feasible application of law and logic, along with duty and responsibility. They just don’t have it nor do they get it, nor do they really want to at this time! To quote what President Obama had said about a month or so ago. ”They are not leading nor are they (Republicans) even pretending to lead!” Rats leaving the sinking ship do not make for a formidable organization! Senior citizens have come to the conclusion that the government currently does not have their, or others, best interest in mind and that must change! They accept that they are most likely to perish either now or the near future and wonder what vestige their grandchildren and their generations will inherit. Hopefully better than what we currently have...chaos and uncertainty.
I reflect on the days when the pending election of 2008 was in progress and watched the news. Their story was about a 94 year old, Nicaraguan grandmother, that had just received her U. S. citizenship after decades of applying and was interviewed by the news crew as her smiling family surrounded them all. The news crew asked someone to ask her, “Who does she want to vote for?” After being asked in Spanish by her granddaughter, she smiled, pulled out a small American flag and waved it back and forth, proclaiming, “Obama! Obama!” Everyone was really touched by that, as was I and I cried because that was so cute and revealing at the same time. A revelation on a serious note that I had told everyone. “Well. It’s settled. Barack Obama is going to win. That was the ‘last vote’!” All those around me agreed and lo and behold, he was voted in. Whether that had anything to actually do with that, remains an unrelated variable, though coincidental. What it impressed upon me is that seniors can definitely make or break this election. Am happy with the fact that they are not blindly following along with things, are giving deep thought to all, and in a great amount of cases, are changing with the times. Voting for Biden will at least be a relief and the way to fight back. Trump? Well...that has already been demonstrated in so many ways and doesn’t require much more explanation. In Don’s own words, “It is what it is!” It isn’t what it should be, not by a long shot!
November 3rd….
Seniors can and will make a difference!