March is Women’s History Month and 2021 has a new President

March is Women’s History month and 2021 has a new President. It has been an upset to Trump political leadership groups in our Sussex County region, but it brings a new hope to other groups that in the past 4 years appeared to have their platforms ignored by conservative incumbents.

The voice of women’s organizations that rallied for gender pay equity legislation are feeling the confirmation for change ushered from this pandemic. It parallels the same Issues of the late sixties and early seventies. It brought us to the stark reality that the pandemic left many without a safety net. What was very frightening is that it has taken a large population of our Senior citizens with finite future years ahead to see a recovery.

Bubbling up in 2021 are movements that go to the political frontlines petitioning for legislation that provides a means for a fallen population to get back up. The current political regime was caught up on drives for 2nd Amendment rights and planning boat parades this summer to reelect President Trump. The American women’s suffrage movement still has an active legacy of committed women that can be found in local women’s chapters and branches that unifies behind national causes such as affordable childcare, safe drinking water, quality education and the ability for the disabled to have their needs addressed with less challenges.

We are being woke again – acknowledging that history was written through the lens of white Christian male values. Unchecked and not revisiting them creates a subjugated social class that locks many into financial dependency without escape. This is a current spiraling condition, but it is often ignored and largely under reported in our own neighborhoods.

Renowned authors who can journalize these shameful tragedies of our times are modern oracles. New Jersey born Jessica Bruder (who was educated in the Montclair public school system) is one of them. Her book Nomadland Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century has been adapted into a compelling movie receiving prominence at the 2021 Golden Globe awards. There is an aging population in the United States that has taken to the road in RVs, travel trailers, and vans, as a growing community of migrant labor nomads called “workampers” and Jessica Bruder has brought this to the national forefront with a respectful and heroic tale that pulls at our heart for attention.

Peeling open the current state of even rural America is the dark underbelly of the American economy which enables a precarious future to many. Employers have optimized on a new, low-cost labor pool - the transient older American. Social Security is coming up short for this population who have fallen underwater on mortgages to become the new invisible casualties of the Great Recession.

Many seniors worry about paying medical bills combined with municipal sewer and tax bills too where delinquency can usher a Tax lien sale against their home. Recently the Hopatcong Borough tax office was closed due to employees with COVID quarantine issues. Unfortunately, it was near quarterly tax due dates and Seniors were anxious to drop off their payments.

Hopatcong’s government has pushed for more in-person municipal functions during this pandemic ahead of others who were hesitant that it could increase COVID positive rates especially among employees. Longtime residents know they cannot escape tax lien sales regardless of their age and in the past received harshly worded notices when they did fall behind on payments. Hopatcong Borough has a higher state average senior population however, it has limited commercial services in mass transportation, drive up pharmacies, urgent care centers and super produce and grocery markets that deliver. They are also not Senior friendly when they implement liens even on sewage and water fees where other municipalities have stopped completely or never entered into this practice at all. Hard to boast a freeze on this fee that won’t go away.