It’s a hot time in the old folks home these days. Elections are coming up in November and these guys are psyched. I recently asked a dozen or so elderly Americans in my Philly retirement community to tell me when they first voted, why, how they felt about it then, what mattered to them back when they were 21 (you couldn’t vote at 18 back then!) and what matters to them now.
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News Flash: One of the things that matters most to them is getting youth out to vote!!!
So what do they say to an 18-year-old who is getting a first shot at mattering, as in VOTING — how to convince one who says, “I don’t really follow politics”, or, “my one vote doesn’t make a difference”, or“nothing ever changes?”
I got answers from a crazy range of folks: one whose grandparents were slaves, one woman old enough to have gotten a birthday card from Roosevelt, another who remembers having to PAY to vote (a poll tax, it was called, and used during Jim Crow to disenfranchise black would-be voters, poor whites and Native Americans). One was a speechwriter for Richard Nixon of Watergate fame (who resigned in disgrace 44 years ago). All of them remember World War II vividly (one hid in the woods of Germany and foraged wild mushrooms for food!). Many were bored stiff with politics in school, but got the bug later because of issues like social justice, gun violence, peace, healthcare or LGBT rights. Some were kind of embarrassed that they voted for a candidate mostly because he was handsome and hot. A couple of new Americans came from countries we once called enemies. Now citizens, they call themselves “compulsive voters”.
Here’s some of what they said: