Politics from a senior citizen’s perspective

I volunteer at a local nursing home once a month. I do a round table group discussion with the residents. We talk about most any subject, but I usually bring a topic to the meeting. Today I decided to do something different. Imagine that!

I decided I was going to talk with them about politics and the Iraq war. There are usually around 12 – 15 residents in the discussion group, so I thought I could get some interesting viewpoints.

When I arrived today there were only 6 residents – all female. There was a recent flu epidemic at the nursing home, so the group was much smaller than normal. I told them what I planned on talking about to see if they were at all interested. I really wanted a larger audience, but decided to continue anyway.

I usually don’t talk politics or religion with the group. Surprisingly, they all agreed with my topic. I then told them I wanted to take notes for a blog. Yes, I said “blog” to a group of senior citizens!!! After explaining in great detail, and in a loud voice, what a “blog” is, I still didn’t think they had a clue, but at least they were interested in what I was doing.

So even though the group was very small, and there were no men in the group, I decided to do what I had originally intended to do. As I said, there were 6 women. Their ages ranged from 82 to 96. Here is how they responded to my questions.

Q: How many of you voted in the last election?
A: 3. They all voted from the nursing home.

Q: Of the 3 who did not vote, why didn’t you vote?
A: Couldn’t decide, not interested, don’t know

Q: If you want to say, and you don’t have to say, what party do you support?
A: 2 Democrat, 2 Republican, 2 declined

Q: What would be the most important issue to you in an election?
A: A person who helps all classes of people, someone with a big family because they understand most issues.

Q: Is America ready for a female President?
A: 1 Yes, 5 No – People believe men more than women, There are some very intelligent women, but they would have to prove themselves. Women are too emotional. Some countries look down on women, especially women in power.

Q: In your lifetime, who do you think has been the best President?
A: 2 Roosevelt, 1 Kennedy, 1 Eisenhower, 2 didn’t have an answer

Q: Are any of you members of AARP?
A: 1 Yes, 5 No – Of the 5, none have ever been members

Q: Do you think we should send more troops to Iraq?
A: 6 No, 0 Yes

Q: What are your thoughts on the war in Iraq?
A: It’s taking too long; the politicians are going to benefit from this; we need the troops in case we do get in trouble; fight your own battle and we’ll get out of it; I just wonder why in the world we are even over there.

All replies (A:) are direct quotes based upon my notes. I am not really sure what I have learned with this report, but I was very surprised to know that senior citizens are very outspoken about the war in Iraq, and vote in larger numbers than I thought.

Note: The image shown is not from the nursing home I visit. It is an image I captured on the web. I would never show the faces or share the names of the residents without permission from the nursing home.