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Congress adopted the Voting Rights Act in 1964 to make sure that Black People might successfully train the franchise. A 12 months later, Congress adopted the Older People Act to make sure that our nation’s older adults have the providers they should age in group and to prioritize older populations dealing with particular challenges. Nearly 60 years later, the back-to-back enactment of the Voting Rights Act and Older People Act appears prescient, on condition that the precise to vote is underneath sustained assault, and that older People from numerous communities are a few of these most in danger within the battle to save lots of our nation’s democracy.
A strong democracy is necessary to everybody, and significantly necessary for elders, from individuals of shade and LGBTQ communities, a lot of whom are poor, depend on the general public security web for primary revenue and well being care and rely on a useful authorities to satisfy its obligations.
Elders who’re a part of marginalized communities want greater than only a secure established order — their potential to age with well being and dignity depends upon equitably increasing the sources devoted to their well-being, to strengthen public insurance policies that guarantee our communities have entry to caregiving and elder providers, and to construct cultural competency and a dedication to equal entry in order that numerous elders can get the care and helps they want.
It’s not an excessive amount of to ask that elders dwell their remaining years in a position to depend on long-established democratic norms like respect for our nation’s authorized establishments and the vote, and never have to fret in regards to the roll-back of their rights and freedoms. Nearly 8 million of our elders are veterans of World Warfare II, the Korean Warfare or the Vietnam Warfare. They’ve labored tirelessly for many years in jobs nice, menial and all the things in between to construct the wealthiest nation the world has ever recognized.
Older People usually tend to present as much as vote than every other age group. Although half of individuals 65 and older earn Social Safety advantages of lower than $15,000 per 12 months, greater than 20 p.c of individuals 75 and older are nonetheless paying taxes. On high of all that, elders from numerous communities have made extremely necessary contributions to increasing this nation’s dedication to justice. For instance, African American elders drove the nation’s civil rights motion whereas LGBTQ+ older individuals have efficiently pushed for far more equal therapy for identical gender loving individuals in current many years.
As elders enter their golden years, the democracy that they defended and contributed to appears to be unraveling. The alarming proof is in all places, together with the refusal of our former president (and nearly all of voters from his celebration) to simply accept the outcomes of the 2020 elections and the violent and lethal assault on our nation’s capital by his followers on Jan. 6, 2021.
In lots of states, election deniers are working for workplace and volunteering as election staff with a declared intention to intimidate voters, discard votes, refuse to ratify outcomes they don’t like, and impose guidelines that make it arduous to vote. Reuters has recognized over 100 threats of demise or violence in opposition to ballot staff; many skilled election staff are quitting, citing worry and stress.
Within the face of the peril, defending democracy and the precise to vote have to be seen as important getting old points. Progress must be made towards constructing justice, together with passing payments just like the Equality Act and the Ruthie and Connie LGBTQ Elder People Act and strengthening Social Safety and Medicare and different protections and alternatives for elder individuals of shade and migrant communities. However none of that will probably be attainable if we will’t successfully use the vote to deliver change; if state legislatures and Congress and the White Home are completely underneath the management of anti-democratic forces; if a politicized Supreme Courtroom is managed by the intense proper for a technology or extra.
That’s why it’s time for older People to do all the things attainable to defend democracy and the precise to vote.
We should stand as much as the forces of authoritarianism by supporting efforts to guard honest elections the place each particular person has an equal alternative to vote. We should assist proposals in Congress to strengthen our democratic establishments and we additionally should assist efforts to carry to account those that illegally assault and undermine our democracy and elections. We should oppose efforts at censorship, e book banning and different harmful traits that make it tougher to change concepts and advocate for change. We should be a part of forces to guard and increase the rights of those that are most marginalized, together with the rights of older People from numerous communities.
For numerous older People and those that care about them, the battle to save lots of democracy and the vote have to be our battle. We should be a part of the battle, as we now have joined so many earlier than to make this nation a greater place to dwell. And we should win.
Michael Adams (he/him) is the chief government officer of SAGE.
Story courtesy of the Washington Blade.
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