Elderly Americans

Lyndon B. Johnson And Medicare: 58th Anniversary!

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It has been 58 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Medicare Act, a pathbreaking turning point in health care, after much resistance for a half century.

Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, as the Progressive (Bull Moose) Party Presidential nominee, was the first President to suggest health care should be a national commitment.

His distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, considered the issue, but had enough of a battle over Social Security being legislated into law in 1935, as part of his “New Deal”.

Harry Truman promoted, as part of his “Fair Deal”, the consideration of some sort of national health care, but it went awry in the divisive politics of the “Red Scare” and the Cold War.

John F. Kennedy also pushed the issue, but did not have the clout to get it past House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Wilbur Mills of Arkansas.

Lyndon B. Johnson pushed the issue of national health care as part of his “Great Society”, and got it done, and it has been a godsend to millions of elderly people and disabled people, and added to the following year by the adoption of Medicaid.

Most Republicans opposed it then and since, and continue to call it “Socialism”, and ten states, including Texas and Florida, refuse to expand Medicaid, denying the poor the care they need, and this by a party that claims to be “Pro Life”! 🙁

And Barack Obama, in promoting the Affordable Care Act or “ObamaCare”, expanded health care, and it continues to survive despire blistering Republican and conservative attacks!

So this is a time to salute LBJ, as the savior of the promotion of national health care!

Factors Favoring Democrats In 2024 Presidential Election

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The Democratic Party has several advantages going into the Presidential Election campaign of 2024.

Among them are:

Women in large percentages are outraged by the Supreme Court ending legal abortion protections on the federal level, and the actions by Republican state legislatures to prevent abortion rights further should favor Democrats in 2024, state and national levels.

African Americans are likely to continue to support Democrats with the new attack on “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion”, including the words and actions of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but also the broad attack on civil rights by Republicans at all levels.

Young people, particularly those of Generation Z, born from 1997 onward, are strongly moving toward the Democrats.

College educated people are becoming more strongly Democratic across the nation.

Gays, lesbians, and transgender Americans clearly see the Republican attack on their basic civil rights as a dire threat.

Suburban voters have become more Democratic in recent elections, and are likely to continue in that vein.

Religion has declined rapidly, which also helps promote Democrats.

Supreme Court decisions have been highly unpopular, and helped to shift many voters toward Democrats.

The continuing danger of Donald Trump has motivated many voters to turn to the Democrats.

Joe Biden’s two and a half year record, arguably the best in domestic affairs since Lyndon B. Johnson, boosts his candidacy, including the economy which has been better under Biden than any earlier President at this point, and with the one problem, inflation, rapidly declining, but with unemployment at a more than 50 year low.

The biggest problem is the uncertainty of the Hispanic-Latino vote, particularly among Cuban Americans, and those from Nicaragua, and Venezuela heritage, but even among Mexican Americans who have become more skeptical about Democrats.

Also, elderly Americans are less Democratic than they have traditionally been, and the Trump support is about one third of the electorate.

The less educated whites are declining rapidly, but are still strong supporters of Republicans, because of racist tendencies.

So the election will be highly contestable, and some experts say the election will come down to four states—Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin!