Are you better off from 4 yrs ago?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-2004
Are you better off from 4 yrs ago?
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Mon, 09-27-2004 - 8:43pm
Here's the orginial link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/9/prweb159961.php

Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?



On October 28, 1980, in the second presidential debate, Ronald Reagan asked a question that resonated throughout the campaign that year: "Are you better off than you were four years ago?” During this election season, many members of “Republicans for Kerry” are asking themselves the same question.

Hilliard, OH (PRWEB) September 17, 2004 -- Veronica Reynolds, age 80, a registered Republican and a retired local high school secretary, will vote for John Kerry this year. When asked for her reasons, she quotes a question that Reagan asked 24 years ago. "Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

“Four years ago, I took a wonderful trip to New Zealand,” Reynolds tells RepublicansForKerry04.org, “and now I can no longer afford to travel out of this country. In fact, I have six children, four of whom live in states other than Ohio. It concerns me when I pay for the air fare to visit them.” Like many retired people, Reynolds has suffered a tremendous loss in her retirement savings over the past three years.

Also like many older citizens, Reynolds takes prescription drugs for a medical condition in her case, a chronic pre-cancerous condition for which she takes two tablets three times a day. She opted not to participate in what she called “Bush’s worthless prescription help for Medicare,” however. “I had to laugh, sadly, when the pharmaceutical companies raised their prices,” she says, adding that she was appalled at media reports that Bush’s new plan will reduce her Social Security benefits by 17%, and increase her Medicare premiums in 2005.

At a personal level, Reynolds knows that she is worse off than she was four years ago, but she is even more fearful for the nation if Bush is given four more years in office. “He will continue to destroy our country,” she says, noting that “if we disagree with his policies, we are accused of being un-American or not supporting our troops. Separation of church and state is on its way out. Foolish amendments to the Constitution are on their way in.”

In a neighboring state, 46-year-old Republican Debra Vanderpool, her husband, and their sixteen-year-old daughter, live in Towanda, in northeastern Pennsylvania. Like Reynolds, the Vanderpools are struggling day by day. “We wonder sometimes where we are going to get the money for groceries next week, ” Vanderpool says. “Four years ago, we had less money a month then we had now,” she recalls, “and we were making ends meet. We were getting groceries and paying bills and getting to go out to dinner or a movies once a while. So I ask myself am I better off than I was 4 years ago. Well the answer is no.”

Vanderpool is also concerned that the US entered into the war in Iraq under false pretenses, and believes that has destroyed our relationship with our allies. Our brave soldiers are dying everyday “For what?” she asks. “Many people were for the war because we believed in the existence of the WMD. Bush has lied to the people of this country. There are many reservists and Guard families out there that are about to lose everything because their spouses are out fighting in Iraq…. They and their families are clearly much worse off than they were four years ago.”

[Contact media@republicansforkerry04.org

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iVillage Member
Registered: 08-05-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 12:10am
Wow, now that's pretty strange, but I guess whatever works.... XOXO.
Avatar for tmcgoughy
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-08-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 8:37am

"And where did SHE get it? Guess you have to be famous......"


No, you just need a vehicle that runs on diesel.

The first key to wisdom is constant and frequent questioning, for by doubting we are led to question and by questioning we arrive at the truth.  -
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 9:07am
Nope. Not better off. Husband's small consulting engineer business is struggling to break even this year and not show net losses. Last year was bad too and he had to lay off several employees.

And we live with a more or less constant level of anxiety about what's happening in Iraq since our son is active duty Army and has another year of his active duty enlistment commitment to serve. As his contract reads, even if after he serves his four years, since it's his initial enlistment, he must serve a total of 8 years, if not in active duty, then in a Reserve component. AND "in the even of war, enlistment continues until six months after the war ends, unless enlistment is ended sooner by the President of the United States."

I also wonder about what the future holds for our daughter who will be graduating from college to one of the weakest job markets in recent history. Will she get a job? Will there be a universal draft that will call all young men and women to a botched and unwinnable war in Iraq?

Gettingahandle

Ignorance is Nature's most abundant fuel for decision making.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 9:08am
Actually I am much better off now than four years ago and here's how:

In the past four years I've gotten my college degree, married a wonderful man, conceived our first child (due the day after the election), established my career, bought my first home, and paid-off my first car. I've also been laid-off twice but that was due to the industry that I work in and the trend of small businesses hiring unnecessary staff in order to "grow". I don't blame the president for my unemployment. I thank the president for my tax breaks. I pay more for prescription drugs than I did before but that is because the drug companies are spending millions of dollars every year on advertising. Do we really need to hear about erectile dysfuncion during dinner? Healthcare premiums have risen for us because my husband works for a medical college that relies primarily on grants for funding. That isn't President Bush's fault, that's just the way that it is. I think most Americans feel a little less safe than we did before, and for my generation, facing war at home is something completely new and humbling to us. I was in middle school during the first Gulf War and only saw bits and pieces of it on tv. It didn't seem real. 9/11 changed that forever for us. I hope that we all learned something from it. I learned the true value of a single human life, one completely separate and untouched by mine. I learned to appreciate EVERYTHING more. I learned to love better and forgive more readily.

For me, these last four years have felt like a healing period. After the disaster that was the Clinton administration it was refreshing to have a leader who focused on what is important and not on what is in his pants and a first lady who has class and grace as well as intelligence. I'm about to be a mother and I cringe at the thought of John Kerry as the leader of the free-world, just the thought of it makes me want to move to another country.

Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 9:55am
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Congrats on accomplishing all that! Reading it was like deja vu for me---all that happened to me to, only it was during the Clinton administration, so I don't think who's president has a lot to do with it......just good personal planning and perseverance!
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 10:08am
I totally agree :) Yeah us!
Avatar for momeebear
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-25-2003
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 10:12am
Ooops, forgot to say congrats on your impending delivery! I have two girls myself; hope it all goes smoothly for you! Your life will never be the same.....but in a good way! SLEEP NOW, while you can! ;-)
iVillage Member
Registered: 07-12-2001
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 10:22am
Thank you, Blondie. It is so refreshing to hear from someone who isn't blaming the president for all their personal problems. For myself, I would say that we are better off in some ways, worse off in others, but none of it has anything to do with President Bush.

Bev

girl in chair
iVillage Member
Registered: 04-16-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 10:50am
and rich......
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-01-2004
Fri, 10-01-2004 - 1:16pm
Thanks, I wish I could sleep...I only got about two hours last night, ugh!

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