On this episode of Democracy on Fire, Kay Brown speaks with Lisa Middleton about the upcoming midterm elections and why participation matters now more than ever. Middleton, a former Palm Springs mayor and longtime California public servant, discusses voter turnout, threats to democratic norms, the importance of a free press, and the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. She also shares her personal journey as a transgender woman and explains why visibility, inclusion, and standing up against discrimination are so important.

Your vote is your voice, and participation is essential to democracy.

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I know there's an awful lot of folks who, because of their own political views, find Donald Trump amusing, find him entertaining, enjoy that he sticks it to people that they're not particularly enamored with.

But I wonder how many folks look at their children and say, I hope they grow up to be like Donald Trump.

Welcome to Democracy on Fire.

I'm Kay Brown, and today we're going to be discussing the upcoming midterm elections and the power of participation.

My guest is Lisa Middleton.

I'm so pleased that she's here.

She's an inspiring leader who has held a number of positions in the state of California.

So thank you so much, Lisa.

So glad that she could be here.

She serves now as a governor's appointee on the board that administers the California Public Employees Retirement System, which is a big outfit that oversees a lot of investments and provides pensions and health insurance to their members, many millions of people.

And she's also been vice president of the California League of Cities and currently serves on a number of nonprofit boards, including Equality California Institute and the Candidate School at Yale.

She retired as senior vice president of internal affairs at the State Compensation Insurance Fund of California, where she served for 36 years.

And she's still very involved in the community, a graduate of UCLA and usc, and she is married to Cheryl, her wife.

So what an interesting career you've had and what a journey you've had.

I think all of us have a journey, and I've been incredibly fortunate to in my life and with many of the opportunities that have presented themselves, including having the opportunity to be with you here this afternoon.

Kay.

So thank you for inviting me.

Oh, glad to.

Well, let's start first thinking about why this election is so important and what's at stake.

Of all the things going on in our country now, of which there are obviously many, many that we could spend all hour discussing.

Which ones do you find most alarming?

What are you most concerned about?

I am most concerned about the number of individuals who seem to be cheering on the breaking of norms in our country that I think have served our country incredibly well for generation after generation.

One of the things about the founding fathers of this country, when you read through their deliberations and their conversations, a word that came up over and over again was virtue.

And I, I am certainly well aware that they had their hypocrisies, just like all of us have had at one time or another.

But they took seriously, the overwhelming majority of them, that the kind of republic that we were trying to create in this country had to be founded on leaders who would stand up for.

For doing the right thing in the right way.

And today we have, if I may, a president who has stood at the dais in the United nations and said, to the victor goes the spoils.

I never thought I would hear language such as that from the President of the United States.

Whether it was one who agreed with me on issues or disagreed.

The idea that might makes right is not something that's fundamental to our country.

I'm never shocked because you have a individual who expresses those feelings.

But I am incredibly disappointed that we have so many individuals in our country who would cheer when they hear language such as that.

Yeah, it's amazing that he opens his mouth and speaks war crimes and it just practically goes unnoticed.

Threatening to eviscerate complete civilizations is something that is a war crime.

And he's done it multiple times.

And, you know, for me, I'm so concerned about so many different aspects of what's going on.

The loss of women's rights, the challenges to LGBTQ people's rights, and how we're treating our immigrant neighbors, and the just massive changes that have happened to the federal government and all of it is, well, we do have an opportunity coming up, and that is the election.

Yes, we do.

Why is it important to vote?

Voting is the way that we put the ultimate check and balance on, on our government leaders, whoever they may be.

One of the things, and certainly much smaller issues, but from time to time, when I was a member of the Palm Springs City Council and a matter would be placed as an initiative or something on the ballot and the voters would vote.

Whether you supported the voters decision or you did not support the voters, a decision, what you would hear at City hall over and over again is the people have spoken, they have told us what they want us to do, and now we have an obligation to do that.

And that's just in a little city and a little city hall.

But it's the same basic measure when you get to the United States Congress and when you get to the presidency, when the voters are clear and when the voters vote, you will see individuals in government, whether they agreed with that decision.

Or not stand up and salute.

So one of the challenges that we have right now is there's efforts to interfere and we've seen over the weeks and months leading up to the election attempts to derail a free and fair election.

I'm persuaded that a massive turnout will be the cure for that, that if enough people show up, our voices will be heard and it will be very clear what must be done.

But unfortunately, a lot of people don't participate and feel that their vote doesn't matter or they don't like politics and they just don't want to have anything to do with it.

But now I think I'm hopeful that maybe people are waking up because of the severity and the extreme changes that we see going on, you know, keeping the press out of the White House.

And as a former journalist, I find that particularly annoying, you know, irritating that the president has so little regard for the freedom of the press and the obligation and the how much the press.

Involves.

Our understanding or informs our understanding.

And it's just crucial that we have a free press.

And that's one of the things at stake here.

But why do you think people wouldn't be voting under these circumstances?

It seems like it's so clear how important it is.

But are people just tuned out or what do you think is going on with folks?

Well, you know, when you spend time listening to individuals who tend not to vote and tend not to participate, what frequently happen, I hear, is it won't make any difference.

Voting doesn't make a difference in my life and how I'm going to live my life and the circumstances.

I think that's a mistake.

But let's be honest with ourselves.

For many individuals, they don't see the immediate impact of government actions upon their lives.

And I think we need to recognize that the economic hardships of millions of Americans over the last 30, 40 years have, if anything, gotten worse.

And when you don't feel like you're prospering and you see other individuals prospering, that has an impact on anyone.

But I tell you, there's something else that's going on that I've seen over time.

If you want to rile people up, try to take something away from them.

And all of these efforts to try to make it harder for people to vote only is going to result in folks being absolutely certain that they are going to vote and make sure that they get in and get their vote counted.

I remember and I forget the exact year it was, but this goes back over a decade.

And in Georgia, there were Some measures that were passed that were making it more difficult for many people to vote, but in particular, individuals living in African American communities.

And what you saw was turnout jump because people were trying to deny them something, and they stood in line forever, hours upon hours, to make sure that they could vote.

And I think, frankly, this November, there is going to be a backlash against all of these efforts to try to stop people from being able to vote.

And we're going to see some remarkably high midterm turnout of voters.

I think so, too.

And I'm hopeful.

And we just have to stay focused on that goal.

And we are.

We are being positive, and we are not succumbing to the notion that there's nothing we can do.

There certainly is a lot we can do to turn things around.

One of the things I wanted to ask you about was your being a trans person, how that has affected your life and your service.

I'm sure it's been an interesting journey, as they say, but just wondering if you're following those issues now and what's the status of how LGBTQ and especially trans people are surviving now in this environment.

So, obviously, coming out was extremely difficult.

How old were you then?

I've been out for 31 years now, and I'm 74 years old, so you can do the math.

But I have known that there was an issue going back to.

Forever, and so there are precious few of us.

So for all of those stories that are running around, that somehow or another people are being recruited to become transgender is absolute idiocy.

That's not how it works.

I. I grew up in a very religious Pentecostal home, I can tell you.

There were no school teachers, there were no ministers.

There were no anybody singing the glories of being transgender.

When I was 5 and 6 and 7 years old, this came from within.

It did not come from someone preaching something to me.

In fact, I was being preached a very different kind of life on a regular basis.

Same with everybody else.

This is a part of the human spectrum that has been around, as we read, in small numbers, going back forever.

Just as there have been members of the gay and lesbian community or individuals who had sexual orientations that was different than the majority population.

Going back forever.

I happen to believe that the Almighty, in their infinite wisdom, likes diversity and likes having people of different colors, of different points of view, and of different sexual orientations and gender identity.

But being transgender certainly means that I have been exposed to personal discrimination, that I have been exposed to individuals who dislike me rather intensely because of who I am.

And because of my identity, I have been exposed to serious concerns for my personal safety.

All of those should lead one to be incredibly empathetic and concerned about any human being who's denied an opportunity to be their best, to show their best, to do their best, who's placed in personal jeopardy for their safety because of who they are, not because of something that they have done.

And so it is a tough time, particularly now.

It is a tough time now.

One of the things I like to remind myself and I like to remind others within my community is we're the target today.

But unfortunately, human history tells us that the targeting of an Other by a majority or the targeting of an Other by someone who wants to divert attention from what they are doing or to create political passions that will benefit them is something that we know has occurred since time immemorial.

And absolutely horrific things have been done to people because of who they are.

We need to understand that we overcome that kind of discrimination and that kind of hatred by being out, by being present, by being someone that individuals interact with.

And when they hear something awful, say, well, I know Lisa, and she's not like that, or I know Bob, and that's just not.

That doesn't make any sense.

Why would you think that?

When I met all of these individuals that are nowhere near that.

So I wish I could say that this fever pitch that is out there is going to break soon.

But what we know is that in the political world, if someone has a message that is winning, they're going to keep pitching that message until they lose.

And one of my favorite examples was the recent election for mayor in the city of Omaha, Nebraska.

And a Republican incumbent white woman started running against a Democratic man, a black man, straight, and she started pitching the.

The transgender issues at him.

And he ran an advertisement that showed a cartoon of her peeking up from behind a toilet and him standing in a cartoon figure next to a giant pothole in the middle of the street.

And the caption read, and the voiceover said, angela, whatever her name is, is concerned about potties.

I'm concerned about potholes.

You know, if we can start to laugh at them and make them as funny as some of the idiotic things that they are saying, I think we can win.

A few years ago, when Governor DeSantis was saying all kinds of crazy things, one of my favorite lines that I used was, Governor DeSantis thinks taking on transgender children is going to prove that he's tough enough to take on Vladimir Putin.

Who's he going to take on next Mickey Mouse.

And that's exactly who he went after.

So come on, kids.

We are in a very serious time in, in this world and there are, there is wars that are breaking out.

We are on the cusp of a technological change that is with artificial intelligence that is frightening to death millions of people in terms of what its potential is to do.

We are in an economic crisis.

Interest rates are going up.

It's becoming much, much harder for anyone to buy a home because of the increase in mortgage rates.

We have not seen employment wages pick up.

And China has proven that they can stand up to the United States of America.

And we're wasting time talking about.

The.

Health care of a few thousand transgender people and getting and screaming and hollering over that.

Come on, folks, let's deal with the real problems that are affecting people in this country instead of scaring them into thinking that I and folks like myself are going to somehow or another take over this country and indoctrinate their children.

Indeed.

Very good words of advice.

We have a vision of inclusion and civility and the rule of law and so many things that our country has stood for over time and that our leaders have been people we could look up to and that our children could see as role models.

And we've lost that in the present situation.

And we've got a chance here.

Coming up, by the time this episode airs, the ballots will be in the mail and arriving in people's homes.

And we want to encourage everyone to vote and especially to vote early and use a Dropbox if it's possible.

And also between now and the time online voter registration closes, which in California is October 19th, we need to make sure everybody is still registered because as we know, there's been attempts to remove en masse people from the roll.

So if you have any doubts, check.

Be sure your registration matches where you live, get your registration up to date and take part.

It's in California, we, we've solved some of the problems of access by universal mail voting, giving all registered voters a ballot that they can fill out at their leisure.

And so it is easy and straightforward.

And if you don't know, you can leave it blank and you don't have to be overwhelmed by the complexity of the ballot.

I know there's a lot on there and people aren't sure about some of it, but the important thing is to vote, get your ballot in as soon as possible and encourage people around you to do the same and to understand why voting matters and why this election is so crucial.

And I think we're going to do it.

I hope so.

I think we are.

And, you know, you said something there that I think is incredibly important.

I know there's an awful lot of folks who, because of their own political views, find Donald Trump amusing, find him entertaining, enjoy that he sticks it to people that they're not particularly enamored with.

But I wonder how many folks look at their children and say, I hope they grow up to be like Donald Trump.

Even among those who are supporting and voting for him, we know that this is wrong.

It's time to tell the world that it's wrong.

Your vote is the antidote to the things that are going on.

Your vote is your voice, so make sure yours is heard.

Democracy is on fire.

It is.

You know, and here in California, I think we've done some remarkably good things in terms of making it easier for people to vote, sending out the ballots to absolutely everyone.

I loved voting in person, and now I've gotten used to dropping my ballot off and at City hall sometime a week or two before the election.

But for those of us in California and in my party, the Democratic Party, we've got to do a better job of counting the ballots promptly, immediately after the polls close.

We have given to those who disagree with us an issue that they are hitting us with, and it's one we can fix.

There is.

There are solutions out there that will allow us to both make sure everyone has an opportunity to vote and then count those votes accurately as soon as the polls close.

Well, let's hope they're listening and that that happens.

Yeah.

And, well, thanks for listening and watching.

You can find Democracy on Fire with Kay Brown on United America Network or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thank you so much, Lisa.

Thank you, Kay.