AARP Betrays Its Members

Although I have been old enough to join AARP for years now, I have never joined. They keep sending me letters and cards wanting me to join (and send them some money) but I just toss those in the trash. I once wrote to them and asked them to stop sending me their junk mail, explaining that I had no respect for the organization and would never join. It made no difference. They continue to litter up my mailbox.

I didn't always feel this way. There was a time I looked forward to joining. But then they betrayed their membership by supporting George Bush's terribly flawed Medicare drug program. AARP's leadership claimed that their members supported that ridiculous program, but that was a lie. All polls at the time showed the elderly were against the program (which was little more than a giveaway to the big drug companies). In addition to keeping people like me from joining, AARP lost at least 60,000 members over that.

Now the AARP leadership is doing it again. Only this time they are stabbing their members in the back by selling out Social Security. These leaders, who make some pretty hefty salaries, are selling out the millions of elderly people who depend on their Social Security checks (and the millions more who will someday need Social Security). They have announced they will not oppose cuts to Social Security benefits (or raising the retirement age).

It does not seem to matter to them that a significant majority of all Americans (including AARP members) oppose raising the retirement age or cutting Social Security benefits. AARP leaders have bought into the fallacious arguments of the right-wing and corporate interests that Social Security is in trouble and must have benefit cuts to survive. Every poll has shown that most Americans (including the elderly) know the solution to any solvency problem of Social Security is simply to remove the cap on FICA taxes (making the rich pay the same percentage as everyone else). This would more than adequately fund Social Security far into the future (without cutting benefits or raising the retirement age).

AARP is supposed to be the advocacy organization for the retired and the elderly in this country. If they were, they should be fighting tooth-and-nail to keep Social Security as it is (just as they should have fought for a better drug program years ago). Instead, they have tucked their tails between their legs and crawled off to a corner like a whipped puppy.

Why would they do this? Why would they betray their own members? The simple answer is for money. Although they claim to be an advocacy group, they don't get the majority of their funding from membership fees. They get far more money from corporate sponsorships. In truth, they are nothing more than an advertising conduit for giant corporations (like insurance, drug, and other companies) -- and they are well-paid for doing that. If they stood up and truly fought for their members, they would stand a chance of losing a lot of that corporate money -- and that money is more important to them than their members.

It is time for all AARP members to reconsider whether they really want to be a part of this corporate-owned organization. I know they claim to offer their members some discounts, but really, if you can't find those discounts elsewhere you really aren't looking very hard. When it comes to the important things, like Social Security and Medicare and other decisions affecting the elderly, AARP is more than willing to sell their members out.

Take a stand and let them know how unhappy you are about their latest corporate sell-out. Send them back your membership card and refuse to pay any more membership fees. They have gotten rich off the elderly and retired folks for far too long without delivering on the advocacy they claim to offer.