Word: protected
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fervor with which the elderly lobby to protect their benefits seems incongruous -- and unforgivably selfish -- to younger people who see only the silvery life-style of the old rich. But the AARP campaign is born of stark realities: the persistence of nasty pockets of poverty among the aged, the threat of catastrophic illness that faces every old man and woman and, above all, the prospect of cutbacks in benefits as Washington struggles to balance its budget...
...programs that the elderly are fighting to preserve were created a generation ago, when the reform-minded leaders of the 1960s vowed to protect senior citizens from the shameful destitution that had terrorized earlier generations. At the time that Lyndon Johnson launched his immense rescue mission, the Great Society, more than a quarter of all old people lived below the poverty line. In the popular imagination, being old usually meant a frail and lonely dependency, in which old women lived on cat food in spartan apartments and relied on busy children or social workers for a ride to the doctor...
Paul does not personally blame the elderly. Few young people do, even when they sense, as they read the newspapers or go shopping for a house, that they are walking into a trap. Who is going to protect young families, they wonder, from an economic system that is eroding their living standards? Or a health system that promises at least partial care for the elderly but guarantees nothing for families with sick children? Or a political system that allows communities to outlaw residents under 19 to ensure peace and quiet -- and reduce school taxes at the same time...
...Webster and cannot be held responsible. Nonetheless, he must be careful not to engage in such intrusive, unconscionable activities. For their part, the American people must be careful not to allow another Hoover to gain the power to restrict their freedoms. The FBI is a public organization designed to protect the American people, not a secretive KGB designed to protect the government...
Hence, Kennedy detects a pattern repeated over and over: "Wealth is usually needed to underpin military power, and military power is usually needed to acquire and protect wealth." While worrying about their foes, states playing in the world arena must constantly maintain a delicate internal equilibrium. Armies are required for security, but they cost money. Military superiority by itself is often deceiving, since it may be weakening a state's ability to compete economically and fund future conflicts...