Making a List and Checking It Twice

(This article appears in the January-February 2014 edition of The American Postal Worker.)

Judy Beard, Director Retirees Department

Retirees were smart. We started planning for the 2014 elections right after the 2012 presidential election. We began by paying close attention to the public statements of elected officials about issues that impact our wallets, our families and the people in our communities.

Now that we’re closer to the midterm elections, which take place Nov. 4, 2014, it’s time for retirees to increase our involvement and start taking aggressive steps to protect our benefits. In approximately 11 months, every member of the House and 33 members of the Senate will be up for election. Gubernatorial races also will be held in 36 states and three territories.

Let’s all begin by making a list of contacts who will be our support network in the upcoming election. The list should include family members, friends, neighbors, and people we know in community organizations, along with their names, phone numbers, home and email addresses.

Our goal is to provide the people on our list with information about issues and help with voter registration, absentee ballot information, and poll locations and hours.

Retirees must step up our political participation because we have seen too many attacks on seniors in recent years. Many congressional representatives may think that by the time Election Day arrives, we will have forgotten who on the ballot favored cutting Social Security, Medicare, federal retirement programs, healthcare benefits and other “entitlement programs.” They refuse to accept the fact that our benefits are not the cause of the nation’s deficit.

Fifty-one Republicans were bold enough to call for cuts in Social Security in an Oct. 8, 2013, letter to House Speaker John Boehner. They wrote:

“We believe that the ongoing fiscal discussions in Congress provide an opportunity to address entitlement program deficits.”

“Many budget advocacy organizations on all sides of the political spectrum have stated recently that Social Security is the most straightforward entitlement program to address.”

“Virtually everyone recognizes that our nation’s entitlement programs are the primary, long-term drivers of our debt.”

(To read the entire letter, visit http://tinyurl.com/psply6q.) The signers’ names are listed below. Is your representative on the list?

We cannot continue to elect officials who try to balance the budget on the backs of seniors. We must make sure everyone on our contact list is registered to vote, has the proper ID, knows the issues, and votes for candidates who support our families.