Politics and Our Quality Of Life

By: Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher
San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

Recently, the Publisher’s monthly breakfast meeting of “Biscuits, Grits & Politics was resumed after having been halted by the pandemic. The theme, Politics & Public Policy, offered an appropriate reminder that, “We the People” have a great deal of say in our quality of life and the selection of those who set the standards by which we live. With the shortage of housing for the unsheltered, food lines for the many still struggling with meeting their basic needs and the ongoing greed of landlords squeezing every renter for every possible dollar, we as a collective community cannot afford to be “non-political”. As we learned at our recent Biscuits Grits & Politics, there are many issues we must come together and not only discuss, but also make some recommendations as to how our problems might be addressed in a more meaningful way.

Through discussions and activities like the weekly meeting of Black Men & Women United (BMWU), we have an avenue for dialogue and action. By way of example, when BMWU discovered that we had schools with need of support and that a number of students were homeless, a pantry was created and members of the community involved with BMWU provided both time and resources to meet those student needs that needed to be addressed.

We must become as involved as some other ethnic communities have done. We must attend community meetings other than when we have a personal interest. Perhaps we could agree among ourselves how to share coverage of those items important to our collective interest. We must, above all, register to vote, for without a vote, we have no voice. And we must, for starters, be prepared to vote in the special November 7, 2023 election to fill the current vacancy on the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.

Yes. Politics are about choices and if you don’t participate, someone else will make choices for each of us. Ultimately, we are personally responsible for the quality of life or the lack thereof that each of us have every day. We ask you to start your involvement by sharing your ideas, questions and concerns with this newspaper and we, in turn, will share your views with our readers both in print and online. In the future, we will publish a list of vacancies on boards and commissions that we, as a community, should look at.

Please help us shape and improve our quality of life and not be afraid of the word “politics” in the process.