Historically voter turn out has decreased every year in our country. Mid-term elections have taken even a harder hit on participation then presidential elections. So why should this year be any different? Well first off, the last time there was a spike in a mid-term election turn out was in 1994, when the Republicans had their take over of the house. Secondly, America is unhappy.

This year will prove to be one of the greatest challenges the Democrats have had to face. To meet that challenge, every single that is fed up with the corruption, run away spending, abuse of power and violations of our civil rights must get involved. We must move the party forward from the bottom up. This means that we all must get involved. Our involvement starts off at the local level and works up from there.

This year we are very fortunate to have one key demographic handed to us – the seniors. A key issue for Democrats this year must be the fiasco that the Republicans created called Medicare-D.

After the new Medicare-D program went into effect first of the year, tens of thousands of American citizens found themselves without the very drugs they need to live. In a word, it was genocide. This is still going on today. Just this past week I met a couple in their 70’s whose combined income is $21,000 a year. Medicare has put them into a program that will cost them $18,000 a year for their prescriptions. Only in a neo-conservative fantasy world can someone be expected to live on $3,000 a year, and that is only if it is not them.

Silently the administration is trying to make some changes to the program to help seniors out. Actually it is not as much of a change as it is restoring something that was taken away. For years drug manufacturers offered free prescriptions to people who could not afford it. When the new Medicare-D program went into effect, the free drugs ended. The end of the program was not because of the drug manufacturers but rather because the governments legal interpretation of the new law had forced them to end it.

Secretary Leavitt was out pushing the propaganda of how good the new Medicare-D program was. He even went as far as to have his parents, both seniors, out doing some cheerleading until this happened:

Dixie and Anne Leavitt – parents of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt – recently were forced to change Medicare plans after learning that the one they chose imperiled their retiree medical coverage.

… the blunder is sure to prove fodder for critics who have labeled the drug benefit “plagued” with problems, from computer failures to overcharging for prescriptions. Troubles have been most acute for millions of low-income seniors and disabled people who were automatically transferred from their state Medicaid plans into Medicare plans that didn’t cover their medications.

The latest complaint comes from drugstores that are filling Medicare prescriptions at a loss. Among those struggling most are independent neighborhood pharmacists, such as the Leavitt family’s, Evan Vickers.

Vickers owns and operates two Bullock’s drug stores in Cedar City, Leavitt’s hometown. Founded in the late 1800s, the shops have a loyal customer base.

But Vickers said he is suffering a cash-flow problem because Medicare plans take 25 to 40 days to reimburse for drugs, sometimes at lower rates than private insurers or Medicaid

So now what happens to the “great” changes in Medicare-D that the Republicans were bragging about in January? Well they get changed again:

In a legal opinion that could help many thousands of Medicare beneficiaries, drug manufacturers were told Tuesday that they can continue giving free medicine to poor people even if they’re enrolled for the new drug benefit.

Each year, large drug companies routinely give millions of free prescriptions to the poor. However, most of the drug companies had said they would discontinue this practice for senior citizens now that they could get coverage through Medicare.

In particular, the drug companies had concerns that continuing to operate their patient assistance programs for Medicare beneficiaries would violate federal anti-kickback laws. Conceivably, they could use the programs to steer patients to a particular drug and reduce the patients’ incentive to locate and use less expensive drugs. Such steering could also raise the costs of the program for taxpayers and participants.

Health and Human Services Inspector General Dan Levinson clarified his position on Tuesday that “lawful avenues exist for pharmaceutical manufacturers to give assistance to financially needy patients, including Medicare beneficiaries.”

Knowing how the Republicans think, this decision was two fold. First off, the problems with the new program were hitting to close to home for some people in the administration. Second, it might help restore some votes for the Republicans this Fall if they can make the entire Medicare-D debacle go away.

It is stories like this we can all share with seniors to help motivate them to get out in vote this fall. We need to relay the message that this is a program crafted by George Bush, pushed through by Tom Delay and supported by Republicans. Democrats were opposed to this plan from the beginning.

Now that we got some ammunition to help keep that key senior vote in, there are still other areas that must be explored.

I had the great privilege of meeting Paul Hackett on Thursday night.  I listened to him speak at our monthly Democrat club meeting. I spent quiet some time talking to him afterwards also. Paul brought up a great point and this one is a must to get out this year. The Democrats are the party of small government.

For years the Republicans have tried to claim they stood for small government but we have seen that is not true. The Democrats need to get out and spread the message that we do not want the government in our doctors’ office, in our bedrooms, on our phone lines or looking into our reading habits. Using this message we can start fishing for voters in a bigger pond – the Regan era Republicans.

We are hearing more every day of how these old fashioned Republicans are feeling like they no longer have a party. Well we need to let them know that they do have a party and that party is the Democratic Party. We not only want a smaller government but also but we also want fiscal responsibility and stronger national security.

It was proven to this country that Democrats could balance the budget. Bill Clinton showed that to the American people. George Bush has taken the nice surplus he inherited and turned it into a record debt. Of course Bush and the Republicans have an excuse. They blame it all on 9/11 (like everything else). The problem is the American people were not asked to sacrifice for those deadly attacks. Instead Bush decided to take something that would add enormous impacts to our budget and use it to cut taxes.

Around the country we have gas prices topping $4.00 a gallon. This is not a sacrifice to our country but a hand out to the oil executives. When the CEO of Exxon retires with a $400 million package then there is a problem. The problem is the increased fuel costs are soon going to have effect on other commodities such as groceries, power and services. Anything that requires fuel to be delivered to us is going to increase in price. While this will have an adverse affect on every citizen, it will have a devastating impact on the lower income Americans. Since Bush has been in office we have seen the cost of fuel and commodities increase while the wages have decreased. This all leads to a weaker America.

We also got another valuable asset to take advantage of when it comes to talking about national security. That asset is Katrina. We were shown that our nation is not ready to help out its own citizens when they were put in harms way. There is one key point that needs to be made when talking to potential voters about Katrina; “We were shown that our government can not act when they have warning. How can they be expected to act when they do not have warning on something like a terrorist attack?” That alone gets the message out that the Republicans can not handle the job of defending our country.

Finally we got one other area where we really need to pull voters from. That area is the 18-24 year old vote. Statistically only 17% of the registered voters in this age group even bother to go out and cast their decisions at the polls, a number that is alarming. A change in Washington will impact this demographic more than anyone and we must let them know that.

With a record deficit and this “war on terror” that could last a generation, the young voters need now more than ever to get involved in our democracy. We can not let issues like stolen elections be a deterent to them, but rather a encouragement to get out and vote. It is easy to steal elections where the final results are within a couple percentage points but if we increase the margin of victory then the job of vote tampering becomes even harder.

People in this age group generally don’t like to think about the future but we must change that. We must let them know that by the time they are in their 30’s and 40’s the odds of owning a home or have a comfortable income are decreasing. If taken 30 minutes out of the day, one day a year can change the entire course of your life and make it better would you not be willing to sacrifice it? They have to this year.

More than anything this election year is going to be about the future of our children and grandchildren. While many in this age groups are not yet parents, parenthood is just around the corner. Imagine trying to send your child to college in the year 2025 if things do not change. It will be impossible. Democrats want to change that and make it so a college education is as readily available in the 21^st century as a high school education was in the 20^th century. We will not be able to do that if we can not regain control in November.

I know I went on for awhile, but these are all valid points that need to be made over the next six months as we get ready to elect our new Congress. While blogging is a great outlet to the message out, it does not make up for actual participation in the party at the local level.

Most counties around the country have a Democrat party headquarters. Those headquarters also hold monthly meetings. If you are taking the time to read blogs then you already have a vested interest in politics and changing our country. Now you must put a little more effort into that interest and get involved outside the internet. Take a few minutes and Google for your local party’s headquarters and find out when the next meeting is. Bloggers and the people who read them are already armed with the greatest weapon to win back Congress – knowledge. We know more about the corruption, failures in Iraq, failures at home and invasions of privacy than the people who do not take the time to read the blogs. We must use that weapon to inform those people and encourage them to help make a change in 2006.

Just remember these key items when trying to encourage people to:

Smaller government – This means a government not snooping into our personal lives.

Fiscal responsibility – eliminating the huge debt the Republicans have racked up over the past 5 years.

Strong national security – Making sure our government can act at a moments notice when we are faced with danger, either manmade or natural.

Healthier Americans – Improving our environment and ensuring every citizen can get the healthcare they deserve

Smarter Americans – Making a college education as readily accessible to every American as a high school education was in the 20^th century.

Those simple points will help guide us to victory in November.