Dear friends and colleagues,

The upcoming midterm election cycle by all accounts is going to be more passionate and more consequential than it has been in decades.  So much more is at stake, it seems, than ever before, from the #1 topic on people's minds, jobs, through and including rising energy costs and social security benefits, cost of health care and access to doctors, government waste and corruption, the budget deficit, immigration issues,  the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and/or terrorism.  And to top it off, here in California, we're going to decide whether or not to legalize marijuana!!

So it's time for seniors to weigh in on all this, especially because they may have the most to lose.   As it is, seniors have probably been hit the hardest by the banking fiasco we've all had to face this past year.  For more about this read Charles Schwab's article in the March 30^th, 2010, Wall Street Journal, Low Interest Rates Are Squeezing Seniors (click here), a terrific article on this subject.   Besides the less than 1% interest they are currently accruing on their savings plans, they've also been badly hurt by the depressed prices for their homes that the devastating foreclosure tsunami has brought to their neighborhoods.

Yes, there are many, many seniors afraid of the rising costs of drugs and the dreary prospects they may be facing due to certain care rationing in the Obama Healthcare bill. And, yes, I believe they're right to feel this way.  They are being dealt a difficult hand.   With more taxation,and the dramatic expansion of government and entitlement benefits on the horizon, the likelihood that seniors will face rapidly rising costs for goods and services in the future is almost certain.  The new tax increases imposed by the government on businesses will invariably be passed along to consumers and with more debt accruing to the federal government and more and more money being printed, the threat to seniors of inflation due to the devaluation of the dollar is very, very real.

So what to do?  I recommend we pay careful attention to what the candidates are saying, look at what they've actually done in the past and tune in to how respectful the candidate is about our country's Constitution, the foundational document that make us who we are--a country of people who believe in liberty and freedom and self-reliance.

I personally tend to like the people who respect our Constitution, and I don't tend to trust people (or candidates) who don't appreciate or respect it or those who want to modify it too much.   So, as a senior advocate, that's the measure that matters most to me   This time around I'd like to sweep out the people who've been in Congress or the Senate too long,(apparently, I'm not the only one click here ) and I'd like to hire some new, fresh, and energetic people to go to Washington and represent me--like the Tea Party folks.  I tend to like them very much.   But each voter must bring his own values, thoughts, dreams and hopes for himself, his family and for the destiny of our country to his polling place by casting his or her own well-considered vote.

Shirley Cohen

Executive Director