Lots of gray haired folks at protests and MAGA town halls

[Bmoboy]

Maybe us seniors have less to lose or maybe we're just more fed up or a little smarter/wiser.

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Well, when republicans keep bringing up social security all of the time, what do they think? That we're just

sitting on our A&&es waiting for these thugs to come after our hard-earned benefits that we worked our long careers for?

[orangecrush]

19. This

[spooky3]

2. Maybe, but if retired, it's easier to attend rallies. Nt

[bdamomma]

5. Maybe a

General strike will help those who are not able to make their voices heard would help.

We all need to have our voices heard. Seniors and non-Seniors.

[Skittles]

8. no fear of losing a job, too

yes INDEED

[Mariana]

15. Yup. No job, no school, and no kids at home.

[ShazzieB]

3. The way I see it, we seniors have a LOT to lose.

A lot of us seniors will be out on the street in no time if our social security and/or Medicare are messed with, and we're scared as hell. I'm sure that's motivating a lot of the seniors who are turning up at town halls and protests.

We worked all our lives to EARN these benefits, and a lot of us need them to stay alive. We're sure as hell not going to take this crap lying down!!!!!

[gilligan]

11. Absolutely

[ShazzieB]

21. Thank you!

[Maeve]

4. If/when I go to a protest, I'm taking a walker

Got one a few years ago when I wrecked my knee in a fall. Old lady with a walker...bet that makes the 6 o'clock news

[Timeflyer]

6. In Florida, gray haired majority, we raise hell because we've been around long enough to know--this ain't normal.

And many of us know or knew personally someone who fought Nazis in WWII. Not going to let them takeover US without a fight.

[Mariana]

18. In Florida, most of the gray haired people voted for Trump.

To be fair, most of the younger people did too - except for the 18-29 year olds. Most of the 18-29 year olds voted for Harris.

https://abcnews.go.com/Elections/florida-exit-polls-2024-us-presidential-election-results-analysis

[Timeflyer]

24. True, we might be the minority in this blazing red laboratory of autocracy, but we have small victories,

because we will not give up. It will take time, or maybe never, to restore sanity and integrity, but some of us are stuck here, so we do what we can.

[Ms. Toad]

7. It's the gray haired folks who lived through the Civil Rights movement, Stonewall,

the fight for abortion rights, Vietnam war, Nixon, etc.

The young'uns don't have that experience. And - it took years for particularly the Civil Rights movement and anti-war sentiment to materialize into protests significant enough to influence change.

My grandfather and I marched together in DC sometime in the mid-70s. Seeing the two of us, two generations apart, marching for peace became part of a story a man name Chester told about knowing that change had come. That was around 4 years after the Kent State shootings, around 6 years after I first wore a black armband to middle school, in protest of the war (the day after the Tinker v. Board of Education decision), around 20 years after that same grandfather disowned my father for becoming a conscientious objector. "A man named Chester, over 80 was his age"** spoke of seeing us march together as the moment he realized the tide had turned.

**a phrase from a song by Holly Near - referring to the man who pointed to my grandfather and I as his turning point moment.

I hope it doesn't take as long as it did for us to gain enough momentum to change, but movements with that kind of momentum don't happen instantaneously, and it is those of us who have been through them who are likely to be among the earliest to wake up.

[usonian]

9. I'm never forgetting brave people who spoke truth to power.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100219813493

And I'll never stop crusading for justice.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100220161708

Today in History: March 21, civil rights activists begin march from Selma to Montgomery

[flamingdem]

10. Check out this video from Grassley's town hall

Starting around 13 or 14 minutes. Get's pretty hot in there.
Nearly all over 60.

Where are the young people. Lacking critical thinking skills?

I hope I'm wrong and they turn out April 5th. Etc.

[Mariana]

17. Where are the young people?

On Friday morning? Most of them were at work.

[a kennedy]

12. Hey, us old and gray haired folk have lived through it all!!!!! And now gawd damn it were sick of it.....

Sick of the bullshit we’ve been given AFTER THE ASSHOLES voted this son of a bitch in. We were out there protesting the war in Vietnam….the civil rights of the Black, and the Browns, and the gays, and all the others that need our help to pass the laws that this gawd damn administration is TAKING AWAY!!!!! 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

13. What a surprise.

Not.

People here seem to have been saying seniors will go along with SS cuts. Those of us on SS (some huge percentage of the population and I'm not going to look up the numbers right now) are NOT going to meekly comply with any cuts.

[Mariana]

14. Or maybe more of us are retired and don't have kids at home.

[Baron2024]

16. I Would Add

It is not just the seniors on Social Security that are angry. It is their families and friends as well. That is a very large population here in America. Trump Musk and MAGA are playing with fire.

[Retrograde]

20. We remember the 60s

when many of us came of age. Progress was starting to be made in equality for non-White Americans, and later for women. We were a cadre that hadn't personally experienced the Great Depression, but saw how it had influenced out parents. We grew up with adults who experienced WWII. Many (I hope) of us recognized that we were born into privileges they won for us. And the US was engaged in a far-off war that many did not completely understand why, or what the goals were - only that the young men of our generation were being drafted to fight in it.

More importantly, we saw that marches for civil rights and against the war did have effects. They may not have been as quick or as widespread as we hoped, but civil rights laws were passed, the US pulled out of Vietnam, the draft was stopped, young people got the vote - so we were conditioned to expect our actions to have effects. I think subsequent generations didn't live through as much turmoil - their world was largely calmer, and had more of what used to be luxuries available. There are also a lot of distractions that - either by design or not - silo people: targeted internet feeds, gazillions of channels of broadcast and streaming services. So younger people seem to lack a common focus.

And we have the time and impetus: the possibility of seeing 40+ years of Social Security payments taken from our pay only to be diverted into the pockets of Donnie's oligarchs gets our blood boiling.

[Conjuay]

22. Well maybe some of us remember

Dad at work, mom trying to corral the little monsters. My parents put five kids through private school - including private high schools.

On a SINGLE SALARY.

Now people are frantic trying to hold work and family together.
Our lives were far from perfect, but the promise of America, that hard work would provide you an opportunity to reach beyond what your parents had managed to achieve was still, at that point, possible.

We watched that promise dissolve. Wages stagnated, mom had to find something partime because the money just wasn't stretching through the whole week. Then the family needed a second car and the expenses that involved because mom was offered a better job across town.

People today are being bled dry. That college degree that enabled you to achieve some comfort, some cushion is now an extra millstone around your neck; but you've got to have it or you won't be considered for any position beyond a waitress/buss boy or grill cook.
We watch our kids, and grandkids struggle, and dragging our weary selves to an occasional rally to let them know we are thinking of them AND their futures as well as our own is a small price to pay.

[Meowmee]

23. Go silver sisters and brothers 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻