The 2020 Election, on November 3rd, provides us with an opportunity to exercise our right, as citizens, to vote for the candidate(s) we support. This year we have two very good reasons to vote.
First, there’s health and income security.
We need to speak up, with our vote, for candidates who support the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Medicare Part A (the part that covers hospitalizations).
The Trust Fund provides automatic spending authority to pay monthly benefits to retired-worker (old-age) beneficiaries and their spouses and children and to survivors of deceased insured workers. With such spending authority, the Social Security Administration does not need to periodically request money from the Congress to pay benefits.
In a recent message to the public, the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees shared how Social Security and Medicare have been experiencing the threat of insolvency, even prior to COVID 19, due to the natural increase in the number of older people in our country today. With the amount of current taxed income, they estimate that only 76% of scheduled benefits will be covered in the future.
We need radical change in the funding of these programs so that they will be available as our country grows. We need our representatives, nationally and in our state, to create long-lasting change so that both programs will be preserved and expanded. And you can make a difference with your vote.
Second, there’s contributions to generations to come.
Often, we categorize generations in terms of what they contribute, or perhaps don’t contribute, to our country. For example, today we are seeing the passing of what TV has termed “The Greatest Generation,” the Americans who grew up during the Great Depression and fought in World War II, or whose labor helped win it.
We’re also seeing the graying of Baby Boomers – the Woodstock generation – who once broke down taboos. Today, the Boomers might be a tad more reluctant to change the status quo.
And there’s the Milennials – and the Generations X, Y, and Z – who will also, one day, be labeled according to their generation’s approach to life.
What will your legacy be? What difference will you make?
Erik Erikson, the American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on psychological development of human beings, maintained that at around the age of 65, individuals are faced with the conflict between feeling fulfilled or unfulfilled with their life. It’s part of a “looking back” effect of aging.
But whatever generation we call our own, we have an opportunity, with the 2020 Election, to move things forward. We have an opportunity to look ahead to making our nation stronger, for all of us. With our vote, we have an opportunity to help our country move toward critical change. That’s something we can all contribute to, no matter our age or our age group.
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