Political Power of Senior Citizens

It is sad to see The Times stoop to promoting the ignoble, destructive and spurious notion of inter-generational conflict. Your prominent front-page article (“The Power Plays of the Elderly” Oct. 19) creates the impression that the older members of our society have seized excessive political influence and are using it unfairly. One must wade through 29 paragraphs to learn that most elderly people live in poverty, and only after 55 paragraphs does the following kernel of truth appear: “The debate continues to be framed as old persons versus everyone else, but it should be framed between the haves and have-nots. We should discuss redressing the tax and income inequities.”

The pretense that there is a class conflict between young and old is idiotic, because the same people are both young and old. Every individual progresses from infancy through youth and maturity to old age, and the one who is young today is the same one who will be old tomorrow.

EUGENE KUSMIAK, Fallbrook