Quit AARP and Join ARF

Seventy-six million American children were born between 1945 - 1964 and subsequently became known as the “baby boom generation”. Social Security retirement age for baby boomers began in 2007 and will continue until 2030, or longer if current retirement ages are extended by Congress. Baby Boomers control over 80% of personal financial assets in the United States and more than 50% of discretionary spending power. They are responsible for more than half of all consumer spending, purchase 77% of all prescription drugs, 61% of OTC medication and 80% of all leisure travel.

Baby boomers currently comprise the single most powerful group of voters within the United States. These demographics emphasize the potential political power that resides within the ranks of baby boomers. I should emphasize that such power exists only if baby boomers are unified in their efforts to achieve common goals. If such unification could be achieved, politicians and their political party would be forced to comply with demands of baby boomers. Whether it is Social Security, Medicare, or Obama Care, if it was or wasn’t wanted by the majority of baby boomers the politicians would be forced to support their demands, or face certain defeat in the next election.

The media stated that tens of thousands of AARP (originally American Association of Retired Persons) members quit AARP between July 1 and August 18, 2009, in a controversy that arose over AARP's support for U.S. health care reform. The validity and accuracy of these figures might be in question but AARP members certainly had reason to question why AARP management discounted what was best for members in favor of political and insurance company cronyism. It is for this reason that the political clout of AARP has been compromised and created a vacuum that can be filled only by a new organization with a unified mission statement that guarantees total allegiance to the needs of our senior population of United States citizens.

I hereby propose formation of a new organization for our senior citizens to be known as ARF (Aging, Retired, and Fedup). Members of this organization will pledge their energy, allegiance, and financial support toward retaining earned retirement benefits and furthering government support of current and future senior citizen entitlements. I would caution the Republican Party to contain their enthusiasm to reduce Social Security and Medicare from current entitlements. Yes, many of us Republicans are against social programs that give away taxpayer money without any money being paid by the recipients to finance the program. Yes, we are tired of Medicaid and other government programs that are forced upon states and local governments. Yes, we are fed up with government financial support of non-citizens. No, we don’t like government forced medical insurance (Obama Care) that violates our freedoms and makes us the subject of committees that determine our level of care, including whether we will live or die.

So what do we do? It might seem laughable to some of you but the concept of ARF is exactly the medicine needed to cure this disease that is running out of control in Washington. Die-hard Republicans can attend their Polo matches, liberal Democrats, or Progressives as some prefer to be called, can continue to rant about their government give away programs and benefits for illegal aliens, and the newly formed Tea Party can go jump in Boston Harbor. We senior citizens will take the helm of this ship and show these youngsters how we rebuilt America after World War II and how we will scuttle the useless government spending and laws that have restricted economic growth and shipment of jobs to China and other foreign countries. Let’s Roll Senior Citizens!