Changing Aging

A few stats this Super Tuesday:  . . . .About one in five votes in the 2004 presidential election was cast by someone 65 or older. By 2040, about 40 percent of voters will be 65 or older.

Imagine if there were a “successful aging platform” in America or in individual states, one that was about every American (we’ve all got that aging thing in common).   AARP and other organizations such as The Business Roundtable, Service Employees Union and National Federation of Independent Business see the opportunities in the electorate and are joining together to lay groundwork with the “Divided We Fail” campaign.

A few weeks ago I went to a Policy Summit Meeting attended by 500 people in Minnesota.  It was sponsored by the Minnesota Leadership Council on Aging.  They did a fabulous job in pulling people together.  As I listened to the speakers from different groups, which you can learn about here, I was struck by two things:

A.  How much passion there is around the subject of aging.

B. How that passion gets watered down because of how fragmented interests and approaches are when it comes to public policy and advocacy for aging. 

How many other states can relate to this?  I think 50.  Otherwise we would have seen aging being discussed in the Presidential debates.

Imagine if public policy ideas were crafted around several key areas of aging instead of many different agendas and these ideas were taken to policymakers with united voices and diverse grassroots support.  Imagine if this happened in every state.

Demographics show aging should be a huge public policy issue.  The next seniors - baby boomers - tell us aging is a very personal, important issue.  Now we need to craft something that Americans can easily digest and grab on to.

Posted by Eric Schubert, director of communications, Ecumen