It's a matter of priorities

Senior citizenship a growing part of our country’s demography into which I have been dragged, kicking and screaming.  I quickly learned, however, that it was not as bad as I thought it would be.  I took the opportunity to retire after a thirty-year career in the telecommunications industry just shortly before my contemporaries in Florida graciously helped to ensure the election of George W. Bush to the presidency.  As a result, I now have the time and opportunity to be engaged in more mundane activities, such as authoring rants for political blogs.  Nonetheless, I still find myself facing the dilemma, “So many issues, so little time”. But I digress.

For the last two years, I have had the opportunity to serve on the Board of a non-profit association of my former employer’s retirees. The main goal of the association is to protect the pension and benefit plans that were promised to us by our former employer during our decades-long careers with the company. I look upon this as a valid and worthwhile endeavor, one that does not conflict with the politically conservative values that I hold dear.  The association clearly recognizes that the well-being of its members is directly related to the financial well-being of the company, and it has provided active support of the company in various issues related to its economic growth.

There have been occasions, however, where the fine line between retirement benefits and legislative issues at the national level have been blurred, for example in the issue of rising health care and prescription drug costs. These are valid concerns for senior citizens, especially since many companies, themselves feeling the effects of these increases, are either reducing retirees’ benefits or are forcing them to pay more for coverage, using money that most often comes out of the retirees’ limited, fixed incomes. Therefore, many retiree groups, including the National Retirees’ Legislative Network (NRLN) have actively begun to lobby for remedies to the problem. The NRLN, to its credit, is becoming part of a coalition of groups pushing to make Health Care a major issue in this year’s elections.  I would suggest, however, that at this time we have a much greater issue on which all Americans must focus; an issue that should play an even greater role than Health Care costs or the economy in deciding our future, as well as in deciding who we should vote for in the November elections.

This week the Democrats are holding their convention at the FleetCenter sports and convention arena in Boston.  The building has been surrounded by a double, ten-foot high fence for security purposes, and political demonstrators are being confined to a fenced in “free-speech area” that more closely resembles the early POW holding cells at Guantanamo.  Army helicopters and Air Force F-16s patrol overhead, and the Coast Guard is routinely stopping and searching boats and ships entering and leaving Boston Harbor.  Logan Airport has been closed.  Convention delegates and Boston commuters are being routinely stopped and searched on trains, and a major portion of Interstate-93 into and out of Boston has been closed for the duration of the convention.  This cacophony of events will be repeated in New York City next month when the Republicans hold their convention.  Is all of this worth the cost? What is the cost?  Could we not use the money better by providing more health care benefits or better education?  Why are we doing it at all?  Why? 

We are doing it because we are involved in World War III, that is why. We are doing it because of the threat of a terrorist attack that could kill thousands of Americans, even more than were killed on September 11, 2001.  We are doing it because we have been confronted by a ruthless enemy that is intent on killing Americans, one that hates our way of life, an enemy that abhors our values, and an enemy that we must not only defeat, but totally destroy. In this war, the concept of merely defeating our enemy in the traditional sense is not relevant, because the enemy does not value life and will not merely surrender. They will only stop their attacks when there are no longer enough of them left to carry out attacks. Our enemies will not negotiate, nor will they go away if we make a pretense of ignoring them by bringing our troops home before their missions are completed.

I have lived most of my life now, but my children and grandchildren have not. Just as our parents did not want us to live under the boots of fascism, I do not want to pass on to my children and grandchildren a country that has to hold its conventions behind a 10-foot fence. I do not want them to spend the rest of their lives going through security screenings at airports. I do not want them to see and hear about the daily counts of American troop deaths in far-away places, and I do not want them to be wondering where the next act of terrorism will take place in our country.

As I think about these things, my own selfish concerns over the cost of my health care and prescription drugs do not seem to be quite so important. Just as many of today’s young men and women are sacrificing their futures for us, I would sacrifice my future to provide a better life for those who come after me.  Therefore, I hope that my fellow retiree associates will forgive me if I relegate issues such as seniors’ health care costs to a distant second or third place in making my choice of whom to vote for in the upcoming elections.  I hope that many of them will recognize the top priority that we are facing in America today, and that many of them join me in recognizing that until we can bring a successful end to the war in which we are engaged, we will not be able to devote the time, effort, and resources necessary to fully resolve the primary domestic issues facing our great nation – health care, the economy, and education.   Perhaps we can provide aspirin-therapy to these issues, but the first priority must continue to be the successful conclusion of the War on Terror.  We cannot do it all at once, regardless of what the candidates may claim. Whether they are willing to admit it or not, it is a matter of priorities.

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