First! A Disclaimer:
I want to point out the views I am about to state do not necessarily reflect the views of all staffers here, we are all of various backgrounds and a diverse group to say the very least. This is more or less a letter from the Editor in Chief here at ZRockR about Election 2020. I don’t do this very often, so you know it is something I feel strongly about!
Back in the 80’s…
I spent my 18th birthday at the local registrar of voters in my home state; and I have been voting since the first time I was able to; which happened to be a presidential election. I was able to cast my very first vote way back in 1980. No, I did not vote for Reagan ( Sorry Dom!) which is no big surprise to those who know me very well, and with the advent of social media those who think they know me well (if you only know me via that, you don’t).
This year however, of all the years I have worked campaigns, embraced the gift my grandmothers fought for, and voted, this year has been extremely different. We are dealing with a pandemic, a virus that has taken over 214,000+ American lives to date.
Just a few things to mull over…
As a nation, our standing world wide is the lowest it has ever been and we are mocked because of its leadership. To hear friends in other countries ask “What is wrong with you people?” always ends up with a very long explanation of how our electoral system works; and how we have gotten to this point; and assuring them we aren’t all raging loonies with AR-15’s in one hand, a triple cheese burger in another and drinking Budwiser out of a sippy strawed hat. Sadder still, people here in our country are out of work, some permanently, as places have shut down for good and won’t be opening back up. Finding a job right now is no easy task either, ask anyone who has been on unemployment for months on end, or on unemployment and filing weekly with no check coming still due to states having financial shortages due to that very pandemic.
People are afraid they will have their healthcare taken away. While still in other parts of our country, men and women are afraid of being stopped by the police. They fear that the color of their skin will be an issue before the real issue of being stopped is even noted. It doesn’t matter if they are 60 and going home from working a shift at a hospital, or a 20 year old University student or a 12 year old playing in a park…
Then, there is the very idea that women’s rights could have the clocks turned back, WAY back at that… or LGBTQ+ rights revoked- These are all HUMAN RIGHTS that we are talking about!
There are arguments regards religion and the Evangelical Right attempting to blur that sacred line of separation of church and state. Then, all the hope we had for the new year of 2020 that has become such a shit show with this pandemic having the economic effect and absolutely no relief in sight from our government. They can’t seem to stop infighting and are pushing for an extreme right judge to be placed on the Supreme Court, instead of pushing for getting people assistance that is so desperately needed right now. We look at other countries whose people and businesses have been given subsidies by their governments so families can still get by and businesses not close and wonder why that isn’t happening here. We are in a very hot mess here to say the least.
There are plenty of other things I could list but I won’t waste your time and mine. A simple Google search or watching PBS Newshour for a week or having your Siri/Alexa/HeyGoogle device give you a news brief from the BBC and NPR daily is really all you need to know how fucked up things TRULY are without the spin of commercial or cable news. Which brings me to here….
The children are our future….
The fact of the matter is simply this- us old fuckers out here aren’t the future of the country- the younger generation is. It’s something that a portion of the generation before us doesn’t seem to get, and never has evidently. Things like climate change, melting ice on the poles, extinction of various animals, plants and insects, failing infrastructure, economic failings…, hell, Covid-19 – are all VERY real and not something we should be handing down to the next group to try and clean up. A portion of the Boomers and Gen X has given a lot of good to the world- innovation and technology and music and art and science- ideas that have us communicating faster, curing disease quicker, creating art and music in amazing ways- but we also are aging, that is just a fact. Young people like Tamika D. Mallory, David Hogg, Greta Thunberg, Emma Gonzalez, Brandon Frame, and Malala Yousafzai are on the world stage and are the voices speaking out for what the younger generation is wanting on national and international levels.
We REALLY do need to LISTEN…
That Being Said…
After giving it a lot of long, LONG hard thought and weighing out everything on all sides, Democratic, Republican, Independent and Libertarian, we had some entertaining discussions on the various subjects. The discussions were political, spiritual, moral and otherwise well thought out. Subjects ranged from the current state of our world and current state of our country. It seemed only fitting then, that this weekend we would take this step, the weekend we celebrate the birth of one of the greatest musicians and fighters for peace, love, justice and diversity (and to ever lead a protest march); John Lennon. The cofounders and management of ZRockR Magazine decided it really is time we stop sitting quiet and put this out there.
Our Endorsement for 2020
We feel that as women, decedents of the founding fathers of America and just plain human beings over all- we have only one REAL choice on who should lead our country out of crisis and the current quagmire we find ourselves in. ZRockR would like to state that we endorse and throw in our support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for President and Vice President of the United States of America in the 2020 election. We absolutely can NOT go on like we are… not if we are to remain the great American experiment in democracy.
In Summary…
We encourage everyone who can to vote or to register and then vote. Please remember you can only vote ONCE in an election, it is against the law to vote more than once. If you vote by mail, do it right away and get it back in without delay! This year is too important to stay at home or think your vote doesn’t count. We vote for more than a president when we cast that vote- How we vote for how the courts will be ran including the supreme court, we vote on how we want the world as a whole to perceive us and we vote with an eye on the future and how we want to leave things for the next generation and every generation to come.
To quote the amazing musical Hamilton ” When you’re living on your knees you RISE UP…” America, we are on our knees. Just look around… you know what you need to do- Rise up and VOTE! It is YOUR VOICE in our great democracy, this “American experiment”, and more important this year than ever before. It could very well be a deciding factor if we remain a democracy or go fully into an autocratic form of government (which isn’t a good look at all!). So vote by mail or put on your mask and gloves and go to the polls but whatever you do, get out their people and ROCK THE VOTE!
So mask up, wear gloves if you are so inclined and get out there! We will see you at the polls!
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