As many people feel frustrated and confused about politics, writers are too, especially during national elections when all the back and forth create a mental scaffold. Who's right? Who'll work for me? Who'll work for the whole country?
Do those ads drumbeat for me -- a struggling writer or a successful one? Do the mud slinging smoke bombs tell the truth?
I don't know what all this means for me, and how does my life fit into the scheme of things? Who should I vote for? That's your choice, but let me tell you a few things to make the previous questions easier and give thought-provoking responses.
*** Writers need insurance. Many of us don't have it. I have two friends who're Baby Boomer writers and self-employed and haven't figured if self insurance or no insurance is better for them. They raised a now-college student all the while without coverage.
*** Writers need tax breaks considering the income levels in this field. They're always up for exclusion during budget cutting.
*** Writers need representation by a guild or some type of representation to protect their rights. In my state of Wisconsin, the governor is fighting to withhold legal rights to union busting.
*** Writers need medication. We're really blessed if we don't need that for chronic or acute illnesses or diseases.
*** Writers need the right to continue free speech, although there have been breeches in recent years. We need to be vigilant about covert or overt procedures. Women fought long and hard for rights to vote, equal pay for equal work, and other major issues. Voting rights are under siege in 16 states. Once the door is open...History has a tendency to revolve -- unfortunately.
God forbid we go down any of these roads again. We all need to decide our own fate but first we need to know what's a stake for each of us and others sailing the same canoe.
We don't have time to worry about our livelihood, especially our creativity that produces those elegant and valuable books. We need free thoughts and clever writing. I don't want any interference in what I'm working on.
We're OK sitting in our executive chairs creating brilliance, but we ought not to be comfortable concluding that writing is an unencumbered, fundamental right. No validity to this unless we're million-dollar authors like J. K Rowling or best sellers like comedian Steve Harvey, President Obama, well-known political writers, entertainment writers, or authors pulling in megabucks. Our choice is to consider the stakes and vote.
