I also think with dread about my aging parents but my dread is based more on what's going to happen before they die. My mother is both disoriented and combative so it's impossible to get through to her on anything, while my father is the ultimate defeatist -- he's always telling me that I need to "do something" but then shoots down any suggestions that I have, whether it's buying long-term care insurance or getting some in-home help. Aside from some small retirement funds, neither one of them made any plans for their declining years and so we're all just limping along to the end, which will probably be a relief when it does come.

You're right that the only bright spot is the election. At least there's SOME hope. My fear of John McCain had less to do with him pushing the button and more to do with him perpetuating the conservative policies that have buried this country (and significant parts of the globe) in this hopeless mess. Another four years of that and half of us would be living in Hoovervilles.