I sit here and I contemplate going down the political road. I have totally stayed away from controversial topics for a reason. This is a place where I come to, to how should one say “purge my soul?” It’s a place where I want to talk about life and topics that affect most women. By doing this it helps me learn, grow, and sometimes heal.
It’s a place where I want women to come to be entertained, educated, and engaged. It’s not meant to be a place where one is offended or angered by the content of either myself or my co-author. Feminine Findings is an evolution. Hopefully, someday it will get more traction and the evolution will grow and transcend my expectations. The addition of Natalie was to bridge the generational gap and I am so thrilled by her contributions thus far. So, getting political is a bit of a risk but I feel that as long as free speech is still allowed it’s worth it and I will exercise it while I still can.
Actually, I feel not only worth it but it’s imperative at this time. Whether you agree with me or not, the magnitude of censorship has never been so rampant. And for me, the realization has been a slow, steady mind numbing wake up call. If you believe in the first amendment- specifically stated in the constitution as: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances – one really needs to get out and vote.
I don’t know about you, but I have never been so engaged in politics than I am now. In my younger years, like Natalie’s age, I never really gave it too much thought. I was so busy living my life and trying to take care of myself. I guess we as a generation did not have social media in our hands 24/7 to see and hear every minute of what was happening in the world. If we did not make a conscious effort to sit and put on the news… you were pretty much living in your own “little world”. Ah, the good ole days. On the other hand Natalie’s generation seems to be immersed in politics. Or maybe that is just my perception. We will have to see what Nat has to say about this when I’m done.
Generationally speaking, my family coming from a blue collar working sector voted democratic. My mom told me they had always been life long Democrats. I was the first one of my generation to graduate from college. Looking back at my voting choices I would have to say early on I fell into that category also. I kind of struggle with the fact that my family who was and is devout Catholics never changed parties due to the Democratic platform of freedom of choice. I, at some point changed my voting status to Independent which seemed to align way more closely to my young ideology as I was split between both parties on various issues. Today, I personally do not recognize any of the values the Democratic party once stood for. The entire two tiered party has made a huge shift. What was once left is now considered right.
The world obviously had many issues back then too. I remember interest rates in the high teens (and we think 6% is high) and long gas lines. But without the constant reminders at my fingertips, my main focus was to get through the day. This type of mentality was still present in my 30’s, 40’s and really early 50’s. I’m not saying I did not know who the presidential candidates were but was I as informed (I use that word loosely) as much as I am today? Absolutely not. And I regret that I have to say that I lived in a world of “blind” trust.
As informed as one thinks they are today, are we really informed of the “truth”? You may be deluged with so called “facts” but are they really facts? Who are the fact checkers? We have become obsessed with them and do we really know the fact checkers are legitimately accurate? I have lost so much trust in the media, the healthcare industry, the judicial system, and sadly the government. It’s as if the world as I knew it no longer exists. I truly fear that this great country I was so proud to be a citizen of is gone. I have seen it gradually fading away to a socialist global state.
Maybe, I was just blind all those years. I believed that our best interest was in the hearts of government, the law and the medical professionals. It’s not that way anymore. Government is constantly censoring information they consider misinformation or hate speech. They want to control all of the liberties our forefathers fought for. The overregulation in almost every aspect of our lives is not what our founders envisioned. The bureaucracy is strangling us in every industry. I look back and think “why did I not question these things earlier?”. When one really takes a deep dive it all comes down to money and control. When something seems wrong it can always be traced back to power and money.
Something has fundamentally changed and the only thing I can attribute it to is the “conspiracy theory” that this has been in the works for quite some time. The elites and the WEF agenda is rapidly gaining ground. The WEF https://livewell.com/finance/world-economic-forum-wef-definition-and-history-of-meeting/aka as the World Economic Forum has been around since 1971. It is structured as a non profit – “Its mission is to bring together political, business, and academic leaders to discuss and shape global, regional, and industrial agendas.” It sounds pretty great doesn’t it? Once you start researching it, you realize it’s not so great.
From what I have observed, the government is a propaganda machine and to my surprise has been for quite some time. It appears to be actively trying to create a divided country to easily insert their own agenda. Only through division can they continue with their global agenda. The constant barrage of race baiting, LGBTQIA (really?) and misguided immigration policies are destroying us from within. Not to mention the constant fear mongering every chance they can get with COVID, MONKEYPOX, BIRDFLU etc…Honestly, we are a shit show. If anyone thinks this is normal….
When I was younger, I never in my life experienced any of the hate between races as I have in the past 10 years. Are there and were there racist people when I was growing up? I’m guessing you know that would be a yes…. but I never witnessed anything like what I’m being told exists now. I just cannot imagine how we seemed to have taken 20 steps backwards from all the progress we had made. The sadness of this overwhelms me as I do not believe that we are inherently a racist country. There will always be good and bad in ALL humans, that is just the unfortunate truth.
You might be thinking.. ok so great soapbox you are on… what is your point? My point is- I implore you to try to get as informed as you can. Make sure you know your presidential candidates policies and platforms. Use multiple sources. Newsflash! even your search engines are biased. So you need to cross reference sources and use different resources.
Ultimately it’s helpful to use your eyes and your experiences to draw conclusions from. Examine what has taken place in regards to what the media is telling you. How did you fare these last four years versus the four before. A friend asked me if I believed what the news outlets reported. I honestly stated…. not ALWAYS and less and less these days. Ask yourself, does what they are reporting make sense? Do these statistics and reports line up to what I am experiencing in my daily life. If they don’t then the “proof is in the pudding” so to speak. Do not have blind faith and think that they have our best interest at heart. Play devil’s advocate with yourself.
And just to prove my point on “information” I’m going to tell you a little story. Recently Massachusetts was in the news due to a EEE virus (brought on by a mosquito bite) death and outbreak. Multiple news sources were reporting a 30% fatality rate. My own daughter informed me that our town was right in the middle of the surrounding towns reporting the outbreak and that the virus had a 30% fatality rate.
I can see why a 30% fatality rate would alarm most people. The few towns affected were trying to implement a curfew of 6:00pm to reduce exposure to mosquitos and curb the so called outbreak. This was not received well by the people of the town. Justifiably so as COVID lockdowns are still in the forefront of everyone’s minds and has been proven to be a large mistake with no actual benefit.
This seemed a bit odd to me so I started to do a little research on my own.. I went straight to the CDC website and looked up the stats on this virus. Initially, on their main page they did report a fatality rate of 30% of people who had complications from the virus. Ok, so 30% of complications… were fatal not 30% of people bitten. And I dug deeper and found on another page that LESS than 5% of people actually get the virus from a bite. And of those 5%, 30 % of people who have complications die. SO….misleading information AGAIN…. Lesson here is, can you trust your source of information?
I don’t care what your political affiliation is…. Just please vote and please be informed. Our Republic depends on it. I just want to point out in the last few years the conspiracy theorists have been proven to be right. So if you want a future for your children you must be informed and vote for the best candidate that has proven that they do what they say. A wise woman once told me (my mom) ACTIONS speak louder than any words every spoken.
Natalie
I’ve challenged myself to write this piece without any (explicit) mention of the candidate or party. Quite the task for a political piece, huh? I’m sure you’ll be able to make some educated guesses on who I reference at certain points… I mean if the shoe fits.
The importance of political participation was instilled in me as early as I can remember. My parents and grandparents always took me into the poll booths to vote with them. They voted in (almost) every election: primaries and general, presidential, local, it didn’t matter. When I was young, I loved getting to press the buttons on the voting machine and proudly sporting my sticker. My parents and grandparents told me from the time I was little, “If you don’t get a vote, you don’t get a say.” “You’re lucky to be born somewhere where you get to vote.”
I remember being in kindergarten and 4th grade and the school holding mock elections. I wonder if this was a catholic school thing or if any schools still do them. I honestly can’t imagine any school having one in 2024 considering the volatility around politics now. The 2008 election was a real political awakening for me. It was the first election I really have a strong memory of. I just remember being so intrigued watching debates, political commentary, even forming my own opinions on which ads were well done. Even being so young, I remember the little awareness of the time in history that either a Black or female candidate would be on the general election ballot.
It was at breakfast one Saturday where my then ten year old sister made a comment, more of an insult but again she was ten how bad could it be, about the candidate my parents were not supporting. I remember my Dad immediately shutting it down. He said something along the lines of just because we don’t agree with him, he still serves this country, you don’t disrespect that.
The hostility between political parties only keeps growing. Every candidate claims to be a prospect for unity while simultaneously viciously insulting the opposing base. It’s trickled down into the way we treat each other. I developed a personal philosophy pretty early: I would rather engage with someone who disagrees with me for good reason than someone who agrees “just because” or without any real standing.
With our current two party system, the default has become to hold your views based on party affiliation.“If I’m a ____. That means I believe X,Y,Z” Consequently, if you are not in the same party as me you just don’t care about the things I do. And in some cases that might be true, it seems we’ve abandoned the opportunity for nuance, the idea that someone may have information you don’t or (and even scarier to some) reached a different conclusion with the same information/background. In a lot of ways we’ve abandoned our willingness to engage in discourse all together. Both sides use the same insults to write each other off: uneducated, hateful, immoral, the list goes on.
I chose to major in political science and spent at least a thousand hours working for an activist and advocacy organization during college. I found during my time in college, it was not just myself and other Poli Sci majors who you would assume to be politically active. People in STEM, education, psychology, etc. were all also actively outspoken of their political opinions. Even for my younger cousins in high school, politics was a topic among each other. Quite the contrast to what Deb described of her time.
Obviously, like everything else, social media has definitely played a role. Access to information is constant now. Where I imagine years ago you had to actively seek out your news (read the paper, tune into the news hour, etc.). Now, you have to actively avoid it. I, with confidence, assume most people my age and younger get the majority of their political information through social media, mostly Tik Tok, Instagram, and Twitter (X..)
Unfortunately, we all know these platforms run on algorithms designed to keep us on the apps longer. The way to do that is definitely not to show content that you disagree with or might challenge your thoughts. So we only receive more and more of what aligns with the beliefs we already hold. Nothing to challenge, no good nor fair arguments from the other side.
It’s also for my generation to become unacceptable to not be politically active. While I am a proponent of civic duty, I absolutely detest the way it forces people into rushing an opinion. It is no longer acceptable to say “I don’t know enough about that issue; I’m still learning” or “I see both sides” or anything even in that realm, without it being an attack on your character or morality.
Environmental justice is always championed as an issue most important for young people. For me personally, the most pressing issue of this election is our current role in global military conflicts. Nothing else can really matter if we nuke ourselves out of existence. President Eisenhower’s farewell address is what I would say is the most important political speech of the last century. His warning of the military industrial complex, among other things, is truly an eerie premonition of what has played out over the last sixty years.
The domestic parallel of the military industrial complex is the American carceral state. It is an issue I feel strongly gets overlooked by both parties. Addressing our gross mass incarceration is an issue that I believe if we targeted would have consequential improvements on issues of race, economy, and more.
Though not a majority, for-profit prisons still exist in this country. Incarcerated workers produce billions of dollars in service and labor. Can we really say in good faith that there is no incentive for over-criminalzation? The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander is a great explanation, I would recommend.
It is a tragedy that in the freest and greatest country in the history of the world (or at least the concept of it) we continue to profit off the killing of people, our own included, across the world and the incarceration of our own people. We have been sold the narrative time and time again that our wars are what keep us free or that the criminal justice system is as simple as good guys and bad guys. So again, just another conspiracy?
Alas, here we are. T-minus 40 days until election. While we are at a time where trust in our institutions is at an all time low, I want to remind everyone who like me, may be feeling discouraged about the presidential election, that there is more than just the presidency on the ballot. State and local officials are on the ballot and these people have a direct effect on your local communities, more often than the president. Ballotready.org is a great tool to see everything on your ballot before election day.
And no matter the results of the election, our opportunities to affect change is not limited to just casting a vote. Civic engagement can take shape in many ways (submitting legislative testimony, petitions, holding office!). That being said, I hope everyone does their own soul searching and makes the decision they see best fit on November 5th!
