I’m taking a different approach from my normal and if this offends you – well, that’s on you.
In the United States, we have an election today. The Presidency, the House of Representatives, and many Senate seats are up for grabs. And how you vote matters because – though many will argue false equivalencies between the Republican and Democratic parties – what they stand by and for are starkly different.
The Republicans care only about control and money. They don’t give a shit about anyone not white and wealthy, particularly at the federal level. The guy they are running for President got impeached TWICE when he did the job before, is a convicted felon, and a huge laundry list of other unsavory truths. They seek to take away the rights of women, minorities, LGBTQA+ peoples, and anyone not white, cis-male, and with money and influence.
The Democrats can barely pull it all together. They argue between themselves, have a huge range of people from center to far left, and seldom, if ever, back anyone or anything 100%. That written, however, this is because they care about control, money, and doing good for the people of the country, even when not white and wealthy. They encourage diversity and are running a mixed-race, accomplished woman of rather strong and impressive character. They seek to preserve and increase the rights of women, minorities, LGBTQA+ peoples, and anyone else marginalized.
Are the Democrats perfect? No. But they have plans and ideas to better everyone in different ways. The Republicans have no plans for anything other than their wealthy benefactors. They can tell you how they will dismantle this or take apart that, but replace it with anything better? Nothing.
Why is voting important to artists?
The arts are, by and large, progressive. The arts are a haven for the marginalized, the downtrodden, and those who have no voice in the upper echelons of power but still strive to be heard.
When you are voting for a party hell-bent on reducing and removing rights you are de-funding the arts. Sometimes you even criminalize the arts when they cause books to be banned, paintings to be censored, and so on.
If you don’t vote you are contributing to the problems of society. Yes, I know many of the choices are between bad and “Are you fucking kidding me?” But not choosing at all disempowers more than you.
Let me put it bluntly. If you don’t vote you might well be contributing to taking away the body autonomy of women across the nation, the rights of homosexuals to marry, the freedoms of people of color to simply live, and worse. Don’t believe me? Seek and find anything on Project 2025 and see for yourself what the Republican’s main backers want to do. It’s not just ugly, it’s shortsighted, thoughtless, and dangerous.
It really is that bad this time, people. This is also why you must disregard the third-party candidates for President.
Voting third-party on the local level is fine. Town councils, mayors, and even state-level legislators being third-party or independent is no big deal. Hell, unless a third party starts to build a real base on local levels – or we do away with the Electoral College – no third-party or independent candidate can win the presidency. Period.
If you research this for yourself you’ll see from reliable sources nothing I’ve put here is untrue. Voting is important to artists because our freedom to create is on the line.
Politicians love to disempower the people. That’s how they get and maintain control. Really, we’d need them a lot less to lead us if we were better at self-awareness and self-empowerment.
Republicans have become particularly controlling and disempowering above and beyond. Hell, they would much rather that artists don’t vote because we tend toward voting liberally not conservatively. And that’s because it’s about progress.
Artists embrace progress because that’s part of the creative process. Art – be it painting, sculpture, books, performance, or anything else – is creation. Creation, even something based on something that came before, is new. Thus, it contributes to progress.
What the Republicans label as “Conservative” has devolved to “Fundamentalist.” The Separation of Church and State, right there in the Constitution, has been increasingly eroded by the GOP. They claim moral superiority, then run an amoral, hateful, spiteful criminal for an office he’s utterly unfit for (and that, in fact, he tried to steal and intends likely to steal again if he can). That’s not Conservative values – unless you go way, way off the rails. But I digress.
In conclusion my artist friends – vote today. Please. And vote smart. Look at what they truly stand for and think about yourself, the people you care about, people just trying to live their best lives, and what matters. Vote for the people who seek to expand everyone’s rights – not restrict them further.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading. As I share my creative journey with you, I conclude with this: How are you inspired to be your own creator – whatever form that takes?
Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published works, which can be found here.
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