Saving the American Dream

By Bill Novelli
Reprinted from the January 2007 AARP Bulletin

The need for health and financial security is something we all share, not just for ourselves, but for future generations. It is the promise of America.

Once, people could look to their employers, one another and their government to help them achieve economic security and get the health care they needed. Today, the burden of saving for retirement, paying for health care and supporting aging parents falls much more heavily on individuals. It used to be that if you worked hard, raised your family and played by the rules, you'd be OK. But that's no longer true. For many people, the American dream is eroding along with their health care and financial security.

We must act—and soon—before our options become too few and the costs prohibitive. If we don't, the next generation will be the first in U.S. history to be less well off than their parents. We can't let that happen. We can't allow the promise of America to be broken. We must all be the champions for future generations.

These are huge challenges, and AARP must step up to meet them. Recently a U.S. senator told a group of business leaders to stop complaining about health care, because there's no solution. We're going to prove him wrong. Our goal is to engage our members and the public in this cause, to press for change. We need to inspire the leaders of government, business and nonprofit groups, as well as individuals, to create solutions not just for today but for tomorrow, too. We'll seek to balance what society can do, what government can do and what we ourselves can do.

This won't happen overnight. Nor can AARP do it alone. We want you to join us. AARP's 37 million members can be a powerful voice for change, on Capitol Hill, in the White House, in state capitols and corporate boardrooms. We must all speak up when political candidates—especially presidential aspirants—ask for our votes.

Volunteers and members are already getting involved. Soon we'll ask you to share your experiences and opinions on health care and retirement security. Through your personal stories, we'll highlight the urgency of these issues and make the case to opinion leaders, policymakers and other prospective partners in all sectors of society.

AARP is perhaps the best-positioned organization in the country to lead this initiative, but all Americans have a stake in this. So we want to work with business and labor, with health care and aging coalitions, consumer and diversity groups and faith-based and women's organizations. United we succeed; divided we fail.

In next month's column I'll say more about what's next. We share a civic responsibility for making society work and restoring peace of mind to our citizens without leaving the bills to our kids and grandkids. Together we'll build a 21st-century America where people of all ages can live with independence, dignity and purpose.