Scaring Seniors Into The Voting Booth

By Pat Boone And Jim Martin

“We seniors (yes, we’re both in that club) have any number of things to be concerned about in our later years, things that go to the welfare and happiness of our children and grandkids, prevention of identity theft, what to do in case of power outages owing to natural phenomena like hurricanes or floods, whether there will ever be a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, sales scams via telemarketing or on-line fraud, home security and the like.

What we don’t need in our advanced years are phony worries or political hocus pocus, like what is happening all over the media these days as the 2006 mid-term elections come, thankfully, to a conclusion.

I’m referring to the oldest tactic in the book: one political party scaring seniors into the voting booth by falsely claiming the other party will “take away your Social Security,” a despicable tactic used every election cycle. It’s time to stop using senior citizens as political footballs.

The reason these terrible tactics are used is simple: senior citizens are more reliable voters than any other demographic, at or about the 25% mark of all voters for recent national elections. Furthermore, studies suggest senior citizens over the age of 65 are even more reliably likely to vote in non-presidential year elections such as this one in November; younger voters are not as motivated unless a presidential office is also in play.

So what are we to believe here, that the reward for citizenship, ideals and loyalty that so many senior citizens possess is the very reason why they’re hammered with so many lies and so much deceit come election cycles? We have to say from our personal viewpoints, seniors we know are getting plenty sick and tired of this false drumbeat.

For example, Jim Martin has just returned from a 12-state tour across the U.S. where he presented our Guardian of Seniors’ Rights award as well as our Benjamin Franklin award (to abolish the “death” tax) to incumbents, challengers and candidates for elected office who are “senior friendly” in their legislative outlook. For the 60 Plus Association, that means non-partisan, free market, limited government and lower taxes. That means office holders who will pledge to protect Social Security and to strengthen the system for future generations, as well as vote for permanent repeal of the onerous, confiscatory estate or “death” tax.

Jim happened upon senior after senior who bristled over the negative tone of campaign advertisements. And they were especially peeved over how they could be dismissed as easy targets for slanderous come-ons. “We ain’t stupid!” said one disgruntled gentleman in Montana. And he continued, “I’m just sick to death of it.”

The 60 Plus Association is today, as it has been for 15 years, an advocate for senior citizens and a non-partisan organization that strives for honest, fair and open debate of the issues. From time to time we believe it’s important to step into the fray whenever senior citizens are used as political pawns and this opinion piece is just such an occasion.

As clearly as it can be stressed, no politician — Democrat or Republican — is going to take away anyone’s Social Security. This malicious and phony charge, however, has been dressed-up and trotted-out wherever and whenever votes are counted, and simply calling a spade a spade, it has been the Democrats’ modus operandi more often than not.

We’re reminded of the response by the late liberal Democrat from New York, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who when asked why Democrats always make these false Social Security claims in every election cycle, Moynihan replied “because unfortunately, it garners votes.”

Sleazy politics and false messages by politicians and their boosters may be shameless but we “seasoned citizens” will no longer allow ourselves to be scared into the voting booth. Stop the hypocrisy.