Voting Against Their Own Interests

The Republican Party has been engaging in a war against the elderly for several years now.   It started in earnest during the Bush administration when they tried to privatize Social Security, and has continued until this day.   The effort to privatize Social Security has not been stopped, but just put on hold by the Democratic victories in 2008.  

When it was announced that there would be no cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) for Social Security recipients in 2010, the Democrats tried to at least get those depending on their Social Security checks a one-time payment of $250 to help out.   This was killed in the United States Senate by Republicans.

Now it has been announced that for the second year in a row there will be no COLA increase for Social Security recipients.   While the rich are making record profits and bonuses, those depending on a small Social Security check to live are once again left out in the cold.   The right-wing will say the COLA is not needed because there is no inflation, but that is not true.

Inflation has been held down by lower gas prices, while food and rent and medicine prices have continued to climb.   Of course, it is the food and rent and medicine prices that hurt the elderly the most.   The Democrats recognize this.   That's why they are going to try and use the lame-duck Congress to give the elderly Social Security recipients a $250 check to help cover some of the inflationary costs they are experiencing.

But don't count on that check yet.   The Republicans filibustered this to death a year ago, and they are already promising to do it again.   The Democratic-controlled House will surely pass the bill, but the Republican senators will kill it again by refusing to let it come up for a vote.

And you can bet any talk of helping Social Security recipients will end when the new Congress is sworn in next year.   The Republicans will be taking over the House of Representatives, and their interest is in helping the rich become richer -- not helping those on a fixed income.   There were already well over a hundred Republicans in Congress that have publicly stated a desire to privatize or abolish Social Security, and many of the new Republicans have they same desire.

That's why I found it very puzzling to find out that a majority of the elderly voters voted for the Republicans in this last election.   The thinking is that they bought into the Republican lies that the new health care program passed by Democrats would hurt Medicare (and create "death panels").   Of course it won't.   It actually puts Medicare on a firmer footing (and there never was a plan for death panels).   But I guess if you repeat lies long and loud enough a lot of people will eventually believe them.

The fact is that it was the Democrats that instituted both Social Security and Medicare, and it has been the Democrats that have protected these programs over the years.   The Republicans have always opposed both programs and would love to dismantle both of them. They have tried in the past and promise to keep trying to do it.

Anyone who thought he/she was helping Social Security or Medicare by voting Republican is just a damn fool.   But it seems there were a lot of these in the last election -- people who voted against their own interests because they believed Republican lies.   The only saving grace in this sad situation is the fact that a Democrat still sits in the White House, and he will veto efforts to hurt Social Security and Medicare (at least I hope he will).

But if the elderly haven't gotten any smarter by 2012, they might vote to cut their own throats.   If the Republicans can get hold of both the Congress and White House again, they will surely try to privatize Social Security and dismantle Medicare -- and this time they might succeed.