Aging and Politics

One definition of politics is "the process for determining who gets what, when, and how." Of course, politics don't exist without people, and the average age of the people who populate the United States is changing. Due to the combination of the "baby boomer" generation approaching retirement and a significant increase in how long people live, older people are going to become a larger and larger segment of the U.S. population. From 1990 to 2000 the number of people from ages 45 to 54 increased from about 19 million to about 38 million. 38 million people is a large constituency, and the aging of America will continue for decades.

Older people in the U.S. have already discovered political clout as evidenced by organizations such as the "Gray Panthers" and the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP).

As people of retirement age make up more and more of the country's population, fewer people will be available to support those who no longer work. At some point, the burden on those still working to support those who have retired will become untenable. Solutions will have to be found, and those solutions will involve deciding who gets what, when, and how. This fiscal problem will require a forced distribution of wealth, something likely to upset most affected by it. Retirees will be outraged if they get less from Social Security than the generation before them did. Those still working won't be willing to contribute more to Social Security only to get less when they retire. The cost of health care has been spiraling upward for some years, and new and economical solutions will have to be found to meet the medical needs of the elderly.

Solutions may require raising the retirement age, encouraging the elderly to continue working, providing less in retirement benefits, or raising taxes. These fundamental political changes will be necessary and may increase the political activity of those affected.