I believe the answer is: c.political force
The status as a political force is given to the group that have a relevant influence in determining the outcome of united states' poltiics.
In united states election, elders on average contribute to around 16% of total voting, which is almost 1/3 of what needed to win the election.
One problem with democracy is that it's hard to plan in a long term (longer than 4-5 years usually), as usually people get dissatisfied or bored with the current party and tend to vote for another one, thus it is typical of democracy that the parties rotate in the position of power. In this situation any changes introduced now could be reversed by the other party in 4-5 years, which makes any planning hard.
