Retiree politics

[Nice Guy Eddie 13406]

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/18/florida-senior-citizens-vote-election-2018-218758

Interesting article about a 125K population, retirement community in Florida that sounds to be very Trump-friendly.  Not too surprising that a mainly white, well-to-do community votes GOP.  What's disturbing is that the management company, behind the entire community, looks to only support right wing causes.  They don't exclude liberals from living there but they won't fund left leaning activities/discussions like they will with right wing.   Now it's their money, so their right to spend how they want but shouldn't a mgmt company be neutral?  Do we want to see planned communities developed based on politics?

Quote

The company does set a conservative tone. The leaders of the Democratic Club recently asked for financial support like the Republican Club had gotten; the company wrote back that it had “chosen to focus our giving in a different direction.” The Democrats also gave me a memo the company circulated on last February’s “Life Without Immigrants Day,” demanding the names of any laborers who skipped work so they could go on a list of “radical individuals” ineligible for employment by any vendor serving The Villages: “These protestors are trying to cause harm to The Villages! These actions cannot and will not be tolerated!” The company also controls a charter school for the children of employees, and according to the Democrats, threatened to expel any student who walked out of class for the March for Our Lives gun control rally after the mass shooting in Parkland. The local march had to be moved to the weekend.

 

[Js1 85085]

Retiree politic in a nutshell:

"Fuck you, I've got mine. You get nothing. Back to watching Fox News."

[Nice Guy Eddie 13406]

Chet is my "favorite" quotee from the article:

Quote

Chet Sturgess, a 78-year-old Navy veteran who served on an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, disagrees with Trump about trade and immigration; he spent time in Juarez as a manager for Ford, and he believes a border wall would hurt America as well as Mexico. But he said he’s still 100 percent aboard the Trump train, because the president respects the military, stands up for freedom and calls out all the right enemies.

“I love it when he says: Fake news!” Sturgess says. “I only watch Fox, because they’re the only media that tells the truth. Hannity especially.”

Sturgess told me he’s doesn’t think he’s ever met a Villager who protested or even opposed the Vietnam War, and he wouldn’t know what to say if he did. The Villages represents the traditionalist side of a cultural and political war that began in the '60s and never really ended, an us-against-them battle over values between conservative Red America and progressive Blue America.

I imagine that Chet sees someone that looks like him, so therefore they must believe exactly the same as him.  After all, a draft-dodging hippie from the 60s would never end up living along side him.  The hippie must have overdosed on heroin long before now.  

Seriously I guess some still reside in the "America, love it or leave it" mentality.   Which means their America.

[Aqua Buddha 14501]

10 minutes ago, Js1 said:

Retiree politic in a nutshell:

"Fuck you, I've got mine. You get nothing. Back to watching Fox News."

Keep your greedy, big government hands off their Medicare and SS.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13406]

Its difficult to believe that race isn't a major component of the political opinions of many people 65+.    It's common to talk politics with someone over 65 and hear "I'm not racist but, " which is their version of Ricky Bobby's "with all due respect" allowing you to say anything with zero impact.

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

No different than when I visit my in-laws in their Houston burb. Very much an “us vs them” culture war mentality. Much of it is race based even though they don’t recognize it. An example would be looking up public schooo quality and only looking up racial data and none of the other information that’s available. I’m not just talking about my in-laws but most of their neighbors and friends.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13406]

1 hour ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Keep your greedy, big government hands off their Medicare and SS.

There are a few quotes in that article and a related article where the Fla retirees are all for cutting waste and fraud out of Medicare and SS but not the actual program itself.   Of course what one person might consider waste is another person's treatment to keep them alive 6 more months.   I've also never met a Medicare/SS recipient that will agree that they've taken more of the system that they ever put in.   America owes them.

A fair amount of Medicare fraud is when someone starts to purchase items off  TV commercials (motorized scooters or walk-in bathtubs) because why not let Medicare pay for it.  The seller will provide the doctor that will prescribe it for you regardless of need.  The seller will even complete the documents for you.  It's all on Uncle Sam.

[Parliament 14121]

When I retire, the LAST thing I wanna do is go be with old people in central Florida.

[TwiceHorn 31240]

To my parents" everlasting credit, they did not renew their membership in the AARP despite a number of benefits large and small, because their publications were so adamant about not touching SS and Medicare.

 

I remember one of those Social Security benefits predictions came to the house before i had graduated law school and my Mom looked at it and said "I pray you see even a fraction of these benefits."

[Js1 85085]

17 minutes ago, Parliament said:

When I retire, the LAST thing I wanna do is go be with old people in central Florida.

If you aren't in God's waiting room when you die, how will you get a good spot in Heaven????

[Gil Bang 25894]