Blog
September 07, 2016
Dallas Chapter Considers the Issues
We never miss a beat!
The Dallas Chapter of the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans met, as always, at 12:30P on the first Wednesday at 2010 Postal Way. Organizer Judy Bryant, as she usually does, helped people arm themselves with more understanding of technology.
I introduced the first topic. A new article in the Dallas paper announced that the City had not properly funded its employee pension fund and had come up with a perfect “solution” — for them! Their solution is to put a cut in retiree pensions on the ballot in November. Needless to say, the Dallas Chapter will be opposing them, just as we oppose all cuts on seniors!
The second topic was to encourage people to attend a class at the Communications Workers Local 6215 hall, 1408 N Washington, at noon on September 17. The topic is the new book “Runaway Inequality” that I have been raving about on my blog. The book explains what’s happening and how we can fight back.
I announced that Jim Rivers, President of our Fort Worth Chapter, would introduce the book at 11AM on the next day, September 8, at 2218 E Main in Grand Prairie.
Judy Bryant encouraged everybody to sign up for phone banking, because retirees can really make a difference in the 2016 and the telephone is our best tool. Retirees are generally good at making calls to other retirees, and the persons being called don’t usually mind being contacted. Retirees are also the age group that votes the most, so we really matter.
Judy also encouraged everybody to attend a “Let’s vote” rally downtown on the first day of early voting. We do that every election. Judy said that retirees have the clearest choice ever in this election, and we have literature to prove it.
DO WE TRY TO DO EVERYTHING?
I argue till I’m blue in the face that we should focus on retiree issues if we want to be an effective organization, but our folks are genuinely committed to just about every progressive cause that comes up, and one or two not so progressive maybe.
We had appeals for various candidates that we have and haven’t endorsed. We had appeals for school board issues in different cities. We had appeals for tax issues on different ballots. Environmental issues. Cultural issues. You name it. Of course, we can’t do everything so a lot of the appeals don’t get a response.
Good to see people so excited and ready to take action!
–Gene Lantz, President
Texas Alliance for Retired Americans
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