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Older Voters to Play Pivotal Role

A GUEST EDITORIAL BY ELLEN BRANDT, Ph.D, 

“Grays” – American voters age 50 and older – are the invisible disrupters within both major Parties right here, right now. But both major Parties refuse to acknowledge how extraordinarily significant we are.

For the Democrats, this complete lack of acknowledgement is mostly intentional, as their Party seeks to appeal to those voting blocs it still – rightly or wrongly – considers “belong to the Left” – the very young, black Americans, and union members, for example. This strategy, however wrongheaded, at least has some basis in voting precedent and preferences.

But for the GOP, blindly following the lead of the Dems and the “Mainstream Media” is the most egregious mistake they can possibly make.

That’s because “Grays” 50 and over will make up about 50 percent of the actual electorate in the 2016 – and 2020 and 2024 and 2028 – presidential cycles.

“Grays” – not Youth, not Black Americans, not Latinos, not Women, nor any other broad constituency – are the real and true and often most passionate “swing” voters this cycle.

And because Gray voters are skewing dramatically towards Republicans, we  they will almost certainly guarantee a GOP victory this cycle – no matter what the MSM says – so long as our Party doesn’t “seize defeat from the jaws of victory” by continuing to ignore Grays abandon the GOP – or try to turn Grays towardsDemocrats out of sheer misunderstanding and prejudice.

First, some basic Demographic facts which everybody is studiously shying away from:

*People age 50 and over now make up about 43 percent of the U.S. population. In other words, more than 2 in 5 Americans are “Gray” citizens 50 and older.

* Barring massive new immigration or unexpected decreases – rather than expected further increases – in American longevity, the percentage of American citizens age 50 and older will escalate further over the next two decades. Some demographers believe it could approach 50 percent – at which point, 1 in 2 Americans will be “Gray.”

*Since American women still – alas – significantly outlive American men, women in the U.S. are fast approaching that 50 percent mark already. Close to 1 in 2 American women are “Gray” or soon will be.

* But in politicial terms, the key 50 percent mark is here right now. Since Americans age 0-17 still cannot vote, about 1 in 2 U.S. voters in presidential election cycle 2016 – and likely, in cycles 2020, 2024, and 2028 – will be “Gray” voters 50 and over.

*This astonishing statistic becomes even more dramatic, when we take into account that mature voters consistently vote at much higher rates than young voters – a situation which we do not see changing anytime soon.

* Moreover, it is not only possible, but entirely probable, that “Gray” voters over 50 have been responsible for most of the extraordinary Populism exhibited within both major Parties this primary and caucus cycle – Populism which we fully expect to continue into the nomination and election processes this year.

What Gray Voters Want

So what, exactly, do “Gray” Americans over 50 want from our parties, candidates, and government, and how can our renewed activism be harnessed productively and lead to positive political change?

(We’ve written about this broad topic extensively over the past few years, and at the end of this piece, we offer links to some recent stories.)

Here, a brief summary to whet readers’ intellectual appetites:

* Gray Americans want to be financially secure. Despite near-constant propaganda to the contrary, it is older Americans who have been the primary victims of the financial chaos and catastrophes of the past 30 years: downsizing, outsourcing, the decimation of middle management, housing crises, market crashes, and the hollowing out of both manufacturing and resources industries and Main Street small business.

A large proportion of Americans over 50 have lost much or all of their life’s savings and are hanging on for dear life, a crisis or two away from falling off the proverbial financial cliff. And despite the recent emphasis on “lunchbucket” Americans, particularly within the GOP, white-collar workers, professionals, and small business owners over 50 have been at least as hard hit and are struggling as much or more than blue-collar workers.
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* Gray Americans want to be secure – period. Older citizens are more likely than other groups to be homeowners, business owners, and have strong ties to their local communities. And they want those homes, businesses, and communities to stay safe.

Mature Americans are concerned about national security and domestic safety. And many Grays are strongly opposed to unbridled new immigration, on economic grounds, as well as security grounds.

* Gray Americans want to be recognized. We’re already more than 2 in 5 Americans and close to 1 in 2 voters. But you’d never know it from the scant attention paid to us by the so-called Mainstream Media (MSM) – or by many politicians who follow the MSM’s faulty lead.

There is simply too little coverage of “Gray” attitudes, issues, and needs and too few programs geared to a constituency whose continued well-being and economic security is of make-or-break significance to our economy and our nation.

* Gray Americans want to get back on center stage. Recognizing this essential concept is especially important to my Republican Party right now.

The Democrats, many Grays feel, have touted a recovery, especially in terms of jobs, based on pure hocus pocus, a Ponzi scheme in which good jobs have been taken away from people over 50; financially engineered and repackaged; and subsequently gifted to much younger, less educated, and less experienced workers.

People over 50 make up a large proportion of the long-term unemployed and under-employed and are the greatest factor in what is now an historically low labor participation rate. Many – possibly most – older Americans have no desire to be forced into retirement against our wills, nor to become dependent on entitlements or charity. We want to work. We want to earn. We want to be productive. We want to contribute to America’s continued well-being.

* Gray Americans want to be cherished. Throughout history, societies which fail to respect and honor and protect their older citizens quickly become failed societies.

The Mature are supposed to be at the top, not the bottom, of the societal pyramid, valued for our experience, our sophisticated thinking, our accomplishments, and our wisdom.

At the moment, we have an inverted pyramid – and the problems that’s causing are fast engulfing our ability to correct them.

We’ve become trapped in a paradox of massive proportions: Through advances in healthcare and education, longevity in America – and the rest of the developed world – is increasing apace.

But what is the value of those extra years of life, if Americans are told they have to spend the last 30 or 40 – or soon 50 or 60? – years of their existence warehoused and isolated and unproductive?

In an economic sense, we Grays- especially we Republicans – seek less government intervention and an end to ever-escalating entitlements, fast bankrupting the nation itself.

But the best – perhaps the only – way to stop such a nightmare scenario in its tracks is by dramatically increasing the participation of Gray Americans over 50 in our economic life.

We need more growth, not less, and a bigger economic pie in which everyone is allowed to share. People should be encouraged and assisted to work as much as they want to work throughout their lifespans, until they are physically or intellectually unable to do so.

We need to harness Gray productivity, Gray creativity, Gray talent, intelligence, sophistication, and wisdom.

For the good of everyone. And the good of this nation.

Ellen Brandt, Ph.D., has been a high-volume journalist – and now blogger – for over 40 years, as well as a magazine editor, corporate financial communications executive, and college professor. She is the founder of the recently-launched Party of Yes group, which hopes to help to remake the so-called Mainstream Media, persuading it to be kinder, gentler, and more inclusive of Republican ideas, issues, and voices.

For additional reading, here are some links to Dr. Brandt’s recent stories on related topics: Ten Populist Issues in 2016; Restoring the American Dream; Of Course, We Should All Be Feminists; The GOP and the Restoration of Morality; The GOP and Mainstream Media.

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Obamacare impact on seniors

At several campaign events, Democrat candidates have disapprovingly noted that the U.S. lags behind European and other nations in not having full government health care.

A closer examination reveals that may be a good thing. It has become a fairly common pattern for foreign leaders seeking the most advanced care to travel—sometimes secretly—to America for treatment. Forbes reports that “An estimated 40% of all medical travelers are looking for the world’s most advanced technologies…Commonly seeking cutting-edge cardiovascular, neurological or oncology treatments, the bulk of medical travelers head to U.S. medical facilities … there’s the United States’ reputation when it comes to health care…”

A study from the Batelle Technology Partnership Practice  notes that the U.S. is the world’s leader in medical innovation, although increasing taxes and regulations may affect that going forward. There are viable and very relevant questions as to whether the adoption of European style medical care would change that.

One group of Americans has a particular vulnerability to the flaws in government-administered health care: senior citizens. The United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), often set up as an example for those advocating government-administered health care in the U.S., has been frequently criticized for its failure to meet the needs of older patients.

The BBC has disclosed that English and Welsh health experts are concerned that older people in need of urgent help are being failed by the NHS, and the NHS’s own studies concur.  “Too many over-65s end up in accident and emergency unnecessarily” according to the NHS Confederation’s Commission on Improving Urgent Care for Older People. The group said this was because of a “lack of help when they fell ill…The commission’s report said older people were “poorly served.”

America’s most significant step towards greater federal involvement in health care has presented significant challenges to quality health care for seniors.

In 2014, John Goodman, writing for Forbes, stressed that “One of the best kept secrets of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is that it imposes a global budget on Medicare spending – for the first time in the program’s history. Heretofore, Medicare was a pure entitlement program. The government had to pay for whatever care the elderly and the disabled obtained. But going forward, the health reform law imposes a cap on spending.

“For most of its history, per capita Medicare spending in real terms grew at about twice the rate of growth of real per capita GDP – just like the rest of the health care system. But going forward, the law requires Medicare to grow at a rate that is not much more than the growth of GDP – regardless of what happens to other health care spending. If the historical trend continues, that means spending on health care for the elderly and the disabled will grow about half as fast as spending on everyone else’s care.”

A New York Post review of Obamacare’s effect on healthcare for seniors: “It’s skimping on it, socking seniors with unexpected bills for “observation care” and likely shortening their lives…”

Senior Living.com   notes: “The cuts to Medicare—about $700 billion between 2013 and 2022—are actually decreases in the spending rate for this program. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the cuts will be felt in hospital services, Medicare Advantage plans, skilled nursing services, home health services and others. “

Dan Weber, writing for the Washington Times, describes another attack on senior care under Obamacare:

“Medicare’s home health care services, formerly serving 3.5 million elderly beneficiaries across the country, were cut under Obamacare. The cut deleted exactly 14 percent, or an estimated $22 billion, from these lowest-income Americans over four years. …This cut does irreparable damage to recipients of Medicare’s home health care services, those who are aged, homebound and sicker than the average Medicare population. Indeed, nearly two-thirds of Medicare home health care users live at or below the federal poverty level, meaning they are the most economically compromised of America’s precious senior citizens.”

The Galen Organization summarizes the impact on Medicare:

“ObamaCare doesn’t modernize the program or improve it for seniors. ObamaCare’s solutions are detrimental to today’s seniors:

  • The law takes $716 billion out of Medicare over 10 years to help fund a huge expansion of taxpayer subsidies for health coverage.
  • It creates an unelected, unaccountable board — the Independent Payment Advisory Board — with powers to limit payment and access to health care for seniors and which will become Medicare’s rationing board. ObamaCare drives your doctors and hospitals out of Medicare
  • The law makes deep cuts in payments to physicians treating Medicare patients.
  • Cuts to Medicare providers mean it will be harder for seniors to find doctors and hospitals to treat them.
  • Doctors are already threatening to drop out of the program in large numbers if the payment cuts go into effect.
  • Medicare actuaries predict that more than 40% of Medicare providers eventually will either go out of business or stop seeing Medicare patients altogether if the law’s cuts take effect.”

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