March Matron

Maggie Kuhn turned 65 in 1970 and was forced to retire from a job she loved with the Presbyterian Church.

Retirees, like adolescents, are a relatively new social identity.

If you skipped civics class, the prior social structure was something like:

Be born.

Hopefully don't die within the first few years.

Work as soon as skills, like walking and talking, are developed.

Hopefully don't die or succumb to illness or accident limiting working ability.

Reach the age of reproduction. 

Become a fully functional adult, with no adolescent folderol, while continuing to work your hind end off.

Have a whole bunch of babies. 

Hopefully don't die during childbirth or succumb to illness or accident limiting working ability.

Continue to work in some kind of manual labor while toting your children to the job site.

Then . . .   

IF surviving famine, drought, war, murdering marauders, plague, domestic violence, royal or religious displeasure, falling from a high place or having something heavy fall on you . . . 

and IF some of your progeny don't die or succumb to illness or accident limiting working ability . . .

then MAYBE . . . 

possibly . . . 

but probably not . . .  

you can cut back on working for your keep.

Which is, coincidentally, part of the GOP budgetary plan.

One of the earliest type of old-age pensions involved the military.  

Roman Legionnaires were eligible for funds after 20 years of service. 

The fall of Rome was exacerbated by a reduction in pensions to favor tax cuts for the elite. Voluntary recruitment plummeted and the state countered with military conscription and a large force of poorly paid barbarians . . .

which worked out well for the Goths . . .

but not so much for the Romans.

In the 1880s, the leader of Prussia, afraid the Socialist Party would oust him, initiated a state care program for the few seniors who lived past 70. 

Around the same time, some industries experiencing a labor shortage started to entice workers with the promise of a pension.

Then, infuriating those with Victorian sensibilities, summarized as:

Misfortune experienced by those age 8 to 80, is a sign of God's personal displeasure and mollycoddling is interference with some divine plan . . . 

which is, coincidentally, an additional  part of the GOP budgetary plan . . . 

Roosevelt, the New Deal, Social Security, and the rest of it provided some safety net for survival after aging out of the workforce.

The tech industry rapidly made skills obsolete and options for senior employment narrowed. 

Optional retirement shifted to mandatory retirement, enforced by both industry and government.

Unless the senior in question is a farmer or rancher . . . 

because evidently farming expectations for seniors includes any number of activities involving climbing ladders, taking a day or two off after a hip fracture, and then pulling the boots back on.

However, Maggie, not being employed in agriculture, was forced to retire.  

In response, she formed the Gray Panthers saying, "It’s a fun name. There’s a certain militancy, rather than just a docile acceptance of what our country’s doing." 

Kuhn had a history of controversial advocacy including teaching human sexuality and birth control at the YWCA in the 40's. 

She was also opposed to the budding retirement home industry that created "glorified playpens" and had been working to improve rights and self-determination in the homes supported by the Presbyterian church.  

Supporting inclusion, Maggie chose the slogan "Age and Youth in Action".

In the 80's, Reagan experienced backlash after proposing cuts to Social Security. 

Instead, in a genius PR move, he "rescued" the aging population with an enormous financial redirection and the trickle was definitely coming down. 

In 1986, Reagan, who was well over 65, signed into law a ban on mandatory retirement. 

Nine years later, at 89, Maggie died after having a heart attack. The Grey Panthers remain an active advocacy group.