May 8, 2024 — Retirees and PEF members, we are entering a period where we must make some tough, informed, and serious decisions based on what’s important to us. The political season is in full swing and before we know it, we will be asked to make some choices that will have long-lasting consequences on our lives and country.
There will be many factors and information available to assist us in making the right decisions. Retirees are most concerned with maintaining health care at an affordable and meaningful level; keeping Social Security alive and financially secure; and maintaining pensions at a level which allows us to live a meaningful life in our retirement.
As for our union brothers and sisters, families, and friends, some areas of concern, in no particular order of importance, include student debt, a living wage, earned benefits, a woman’s right to control her personal health care, fair and free elections, and global warming, just to name a few. Most important is the need to preserve the various structures of our democratic republic created and built by the Founding Fathers.
Hard working Americans are bringing us back from the pandemic and we need to elect leaders who will get things done for us by creating good paying jobs and lowering costs. Working people are the engines of the economy. When workers get a raise and have more money, they are able to spend that money in their communities, which helps local communities thrive!
Ask yourself if you support Medicare having the ability to negotiate lower drug prices for seniors or limiting the cost of insulin to $35 a month. How about enhanced health care and disability benefits for millions of veterans or saving pensions for hundreds of thousands of retired workers whose pensions were at risk?
In my opinion, any candidate who supports retirees and working Americans deserves my support! As plans are formulated to endorse these kinds of candidates, we may be seeking volunteers to write post cards, make phone calls, send text messages, attend meetings, rallies, and/or town halls, talk to your local representatives, or engage neighbors and family members in discussions.
Most importantly – vote!
Decide what topics are important to you and seek information about those issues from candidates you are considering. Ask yourself if you know what the position of the candidate you support is on our democratic institutions and structures? Do you know if they support free and fair elections and the peaceful transfer of power from one administration to another? How do they feel about maintaining access to a good, affordable Medicare program and Social Security? What is their stance on the pension you receive, is it an earned benefit or an entitlement?
Immigration is a much more difficult topic to solve. Is your candidate willing to work to resolve these problems in a mutually beneficial way? Are you getting your background candidate information from a reliable, unbiased source which provides various points of view? Are you on the alert for misinformation and/or can you sort that information into facts versus opinions?
Now is the time to prepare for the election, so you can cast an informed vote and support the issues that are most important to you, your family, and your fellow Americans.