The Pittsburgh Post Gazette carried a story today on a familiar theme--older people vote at proportionately higher levels than other age groups. We want to add our voice to encourage you to vote, whether you are old or young, or somewhere in between.
The news each morning should be enough to get you out to vote. But if that is not enough, there are issues that affect you directly.
For us old folks, there are direct threats to Social Security and Medicare. The tax cuts that Congress enacted last year are producing massive deficits in the federal budget. Current law allows Congress to respond to large deficits by making cuts in Social Security and Medicare. This is not a liberal fantasy. Paul Ryan and other leading Republicans have stated that this is their goal.
If that is not enough to get you out to vote, consider the environment. The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change worries that we are already too late to avoid significant degradation to the climate due to global warming. We worry about the kind of world our grandchildren will live in.
So vote, and get your friends to vote. Get your children to vote. Get your grandchildren to vote, too, if they are old enough.
You may be telling yourself your vote doesn’t make a difference. But even if the important statewide and local races in your area look lopsided in the polls, we know now the polls can be wrong.
And if you happen to be in the area, stop by at our polling place. Some of Judy’s cookies and cakes will be on sale at a fund-raiser organized by the pre-school our granddaughter attends.
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