SPECIAL GUEST EDITORIAL

Seniors need to stop whining about health care cuts; "We can take care of ourselves"

by Jayne D. Frank, Michigan

As a lifelong Republican, I am sad to be moving away from the ways of my parents and grandparents and those friends around us that are Republicans. I fervently believe that the Republican Party is out of touch and has lost its way. This blog article is my way to bring attention to this growing problem. God knows, we have written our Representatives and Republicans for many months now about preserving our Constitution and stopping the progressive agenda of the Administration. We have requested that they get back to their core platform of lean, accountable government, with emphasis on the free enterprise system that made this Country great. What we get in return is rhetoric, stale, boilerplate responses, form letters and dozens of Republican Party requests for donations in the mail. They just don’t get what has happened to them.

During a Tea Party Express rally in Traverse City, MI on April 9 a speaker asked how many people were Republican, Democrat, Libertarian or Independent. I was stunned at the number of people putting their hands up as an Independent or Libertarian, many of whom I know were registered Republicans my husband and I were included with those that did. We are obviously disappointed by where our Republican Party is right now and what they have failed to do during the years when in power. Given the chance to fix the health care system, they initiated nothing until the Obamacare crises pushed them into a response that was late in gaining public support. Any American with a brain will tell you that they understand that Medicare and Social Security cannot sustain itself without changes. The Republicans have been talking about tort reform for years as a means to cut health care costs but have accomplished nothing. Given the immigration problem the Republicans have again done nothing for years and even allowed John McCain to speak for them in asserting that illegal aliens in this country should be treated the same as those that have achieved citizenship legally. Most of all, the Republicans are just as complicit in the out of control spending that is going on in our Government without any thought as to the long term ramifications of their actions.

The Republican Party has known for years that we cannot continue to be dependent on foreign sources of oil. They did nothing while in power to address energy independence. This Administration’s solution to the energy problem is taxation through Cap and Trade Legislation, a cost Americans cannot afford. Now we are faced with protecting America’s Constitution and getting our Republic back to its core principles and values. The solution is to replace incumbents in the 2010 election with fiscally conservative, principled men and women who are true Reagan free enterprise candidates. This writer does not feel that the Republican Party and Republican National Committee is doing the one thing that will regain power in the House and Senate, or even assuring a win at the 2012 Presidential election. That action is to focus solely on the 18-44 year old age group, which in large part won Obama his election.

The reason is clear. We are not listening or strongly recruiting into the Republican Party this strong demographic group. Of the 206 million people who voted in the 2008 election 110 million Americans between the age of 18 and 44 “could have voted” in that election. Only 42 million voted. The majority of that group who voted indicated that they had been contacted and even recruited by the Obama campaign. Many reported that they were never contacted by the Republican Party or Republican National Committee and try to excite them about voting or even finding out what their key concerns were for the future of our country. Even Ron Paul’s campaign for liberty group was using its best efforts to capture this important vote but wasted a valuable “resource” that could have taken the election away from Barack Obama.

The younger generation in America today is not faced with the same problems that middle-aged people and seniors are except for one thing. Our debt and deficit crisis is real, affects everyone, and the survival of our Country is dependant on our fixing this problem. The spiraling taxes and out of control spending will put an end to life as we know it. The only way to steer away from the path this Country is on, is to listen to what young people have to say, encourage and enlighten them with our experience, and then walk hand in hand with them, making sure they all get registered and get out to their voting places in November.

This demographic group is a much more secular group and are not necessarily attached to any religious institutions, much as was the establishment Republican Party in the past. According to the November 12 Pew Research article on this voting block, they are also much more diverse ethnically than the older generation in our country. So it is my thought that very conservative Republicans who cherish life and rebuke leftist political agendas, including the Republican National Committee, might be wise to target this age group explicitly to be able to see the failings of the current Obama Administration and how its policies will adversely affect Americans and their way of life for decades to come. We seniors have to stop whining about health care cuts and about what is going to be taken away from us, because we will do just fine taking care of ourselves, our families and our neighbors. It is this fragile 18-44 age generation that is going to be impacted the most being taxed into oblivion. They will not have the opportunities to financially succeed that we had, losing more and more liberty every day. They are worried about what the future holds for them. Let’s use our wisdom, our skill, our love and our traditional Republican values to get them properly engaged in the next election process