Why Vote? We Need a Change…for the Better

As our readers may recall, I have mentioned numerous times that I hail from a very small town in rural Pennsylvania, but I have lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years now. My hometown couldn’t be any more polar opposite to the City of Angels than summer is to winter. I grew up in a very conservative, church-going home with religious but very loving parents and two, much-older brothers. For a lot of people that might sound like torture: too much religion and a lot of testosterone. Sports were a big interest for my brothers and my dad was a common-sense, no-nonsense, hard worker. My mom was the atypical 50’s housewife (sans the string of pearls, nor the gingham dresses or apron). The only problem: I was a teenager in the 1980’s, living the life of a teenager raised with 1950’s ideals. To say it was unusual would be an understatement. Yes, my parents were old-fashioned (they were born in 1932 and 1935 after all); yes, they had staunch, conservative views on pretty much everything; but despite that – or in light of that – my brothers and I always knew we were loved, but we also knew we had a lot to live up to. That had it’s own share of good and bad points.

What does this have to do with TV or the entertainment industry or even with women behind and in front of the camera? Well, honestly not too much, but enough that I have felt compelled to write this article. An article that I have been writing and re-writing in my mind for the last few weeks. This article has been spurred on by the countless protests that have taken place all over the world, protests that we all saw on the news, in newspapers and magazines and all over social media. This article has been spurred on by the fact that the United States – as of the writing of this article – has lost over 180,000 people. Americans: let that number sink in: 180,000 souls have been lost to a virus that could have been contained. A plague on this world that could have been handled so much better if only we had a Commander in Chief who cared about the people of the United States and not himself alone. This article has been spurred on by the fact that the first woman of color – Kamala Harris – has been nominated by the Democratic Party to potentially become the Vice President of the United States.

Growing up in my tiny hometown there was little to no diversity – a few black families throughout its long history; no Asian residents until one brave woman decided to move to my hometown to become the librarian at the oldest library in our county, which was located a few blocks from my family’s home. No Latinos, but lots of Italians as well as people of Polish, German and Dutch decent. Needless to say, my hometown was pretty much whitebread. In fact, according to the 2000 census, my hometown consisted of 95.52% Caucasian residents and only 3.29% of the minuscule population were Black. Supposedly the percentage for Native Americans, Asians, Pacific Islanders or Latinos were way under 1% each. Considering I moved here in 2000, I don’t even remember any of those ethnic groups living in my hometown, let alone why they would want to. Believe me, when I say my hometown was and still is dead-end and in the middle of nowhere, I’m being serious. Nowhere and dead-end! [I’m sure I’ll get some snide comments from family and friends who still live in that area, but it’s the hard truth!!]

So, when I happily left my hometown (more like I couldn’t wait to get on the plane and set my feet permanently in California) and took up residence in Los Angeles where the population was 3.7 million in the summer of 2000, it should have been culture shock for me; and to a certain degree it was. But, thankfully I acclimated pretty quickly – perhaps to the weather a little better and quicker than to all of the diversity. I came here as a staunch conservative Republican – who had absolutely no interest in politics. I didn’t want to vote; I didn’t want to get involved in anything even marginally involved with local, county, regional, state or federal government. After 9-11 happened, I hid behind the proverbial rose-colored glasses, ignoring anything that happened on the news, steering clear of any conversations even remotely related to politics and prided myself on living inside my own little bubble of TV, movies, music and books. And that was all fine and well – but only to a certain degree. I was out of the loop, pretty clueless about what was happening in the world and taking for granted what so many women fought for in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Shame on me, I know!!

My stance SHOULD have changed in 2016 when an orange-faced baboon became President, but it didn’t. Jump ahead about 3 and 1/2 years later to the outbreak of the Coronavirus, the safer-at-home mandates, and all the rest that followed: the ridiculous arguments over wearing a mask (you should be wearing one, by the way!!), the protests, armed forces being unleashed on those non-violent protesters, the lootings all over the country, the needless deaths related and unrelated to the pandemic and so much more.

As we got closer to the 2020 Presidential election, it FINALLY became abundantly clear to me that I needed to step up; that I needed to take part, that I needed to stop taking for granted what the suffragettes did for all of us women who followed them. I needed to register to vote and I needed to make a difference (small though it will be). I am asking all of our American readers to think long and hard about what has happened so far this year in our country and all over the world. Really spend some time comparing who our President currently is and who our President could be. We need to make a stark change! We all need to wake up and realize that if things don’t change now, it’s only going to get worse and we’ve already been dealing with worse – do we need even more of the same?

Whether you agree with me or not, regardless of your voting preference, please vote! If you’re not registered, it’s not too late. If you’re on the fence about who to vote for, look at where America is right now: travelers from the US are banned in nearly 40 other countries; we rank #1 in total Coronavirus cases AND Coronavirus deaths (that should alarm EVERYONE!); and 51 million Americans are unemployed. Those are just three statistics! We need a change, we need things to get better and we need a new President. Please get out there and vote in November!

Thank you and now we return you to your regular viewing and reading.

[Featured Image Credit: Teach the Vote]