Pre-Boomer Musings

The media have reported that seniors have become more vocal as health care continues to be America’s hot topic.  As a pre-boomer, I have expressed my concerns to anyone who will listen and tried to recruit others born between 1930 and 1945 to get active on this issue.  Until the final bill is rolled out and the votes are counted, we won’t know how successful our efforts have been.  But one thing is certain, the politicians are beginning to realize that we can’t be steamrollered into submission.  What does this mean to future generations?

The uniqueness of America is the array of freedoms we have, more than any other country in the world.  Our founding fathers established our government to work for the people.  This caused people from around the globe to want to make the USA their home.  Today, all our citizens have the same rights and the same opportunities to succeed.  All it takes is a dream, hard work and a little luck to improve ones lifestyle. 

We new seniors grew up understanding this.  It was a belief in the American way and a commitment to accomplish our goals that brought us to retirement age with a sense that we were going to be able to spend our remaining years in relative comfort.  The recession put a crimp in our plans, but we’re not ready to throw in the towel.  To the contrary, we’re prepared to hunker down and do what it takes to ride this storm through; because that’s the way we were taught – “when the going gets tough, the tough get going.”

There is too much proposed spending by the government and an upheaval in the financial fabric that has served our generation from the time the great depression and WWII ended.  The bumps in the road along the way did not discourage pre-boomers from doing what we thought was right.  Now, we’re looking at cuts in Medicare benefits along with added taxes and fees that will affect our quality of life.  We can’t let this happen.  We must connect and the community of new seniors needs to unite.  That’s how to protect our generation and those trailing us from being victims of bureaucratic mismanagement and the political overspending they engage in to reach their self-serving goals at our expense.

Currently there are more than 30 million pre-boomers; there’s also another 10 million from the greatest generation.  Combined, we represent about 13 percent of the population but are projected to account for nearly 30 percent of the electorate in the upcoming mid-term election.  And, unlike so-called special interest groups, we are homogenized by our sense of tradition and the experience we’ve gained as citizens for more than 65 years.  So it’s not a matter of race, religion, sex, geographic location or political party.  We’re part of a “community” that is based on an understanding of life along with a sense of fairness.

We have experienced much over the years, and can continue to help shape the future for us as well as others.  However, nobody is going to look out for us if we don’t look out for ourselves and by doing so we will help the country regain its lost values.  We must do the teaching; otherwise, what’s going to happen when the 76 million baby boomers when they start turning 65 in 2011?

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