The Election from afar

I can't even begin to tell you how glad I am that I'm not in the US right now. With the combination of all the ridiculousness of the presidential campaigns, the ensuing 24-hour coverage and commentary, and the failing economy, I have a whole lot of reasons for why it's good to live in a foreign country (and why I have no problems committing to staying here for another year and a half). I do have to say that I've gotten a good kick out of reading the many many articles about either candidate and their VP's. Recent favorites include this Rolling Stones article, all of the SNL clips involving Tiny Fey as Palin (and particularly the most recent one with the real Palin in the show!), and the significant amount of coverage that Al Jazeera has done on the campaigns (mostly because I think it's interesting to see what kind of picture of the election is painted in this region of the world). I think my favorite of the latter was a string of interviews done at a Palin rally in Eastern Ohio where the n-word was dropped every other sentence in reference to Obama... that and the fact that they're still talking about him as if he were Muslim. It scares me that these are the images of America that are shown to people over here. No wonder they think we're a bunch of intolerant hicks.

Anyway... not only am I happy that I have for the most part escaped the bombardment of the media, it's given me a renewed perspective on activism and citizenship. It's very difficult to be involved in a political process when you're 6000+ miles removed from it physically. My activism has consisted mostly of helping to educate non-Americans on the political process and what this election and its candidates mean to America - mostly done via formal and informal conversations. The thing that has most been meaningful to me, however, is voting. Most people, including myself, take for granted the fact that you get election day off where you just drive yourself to the nearest polling location, step into a little curtained booth, and cast your vote. When you have to go through the timely process of requesting an absentee ballot, dealing with not receiving one, then mailing in your federal write-in ballot, the process becomes much more involved, and because it requires more effort it inevitably carries more emotional weight. Who thought that voting would have ever been an emotional thing for me? I think part of it is knowing what is at stake in this particular election, both for me as an expat living in the Arabian Gulf as well as just for the US and the world in general. But I feel much more attached to the idea and process of voting this year than I have at any other time previously.

The scariest thing for me is the significant number of people who live abroad who may make no effort whatsoever to engage in this election. It's scary because I've realized now just how many expats there are that live outside of the states. And I've also realized just how one-sided this race would be if everyone in the world could vote in the US elections. Literally, everybody in the world wants Obama to win this election. The few people who don't want him to win are US citizens themselves. Don't believe me? Check out this website. The only exception is Macedonia, oddly enough. Truly, it's scary to think of the number of people on a regular basis who chose not to vote for the next leader of our country. How could you not care? This person, as we've seen with Dubya, has the power to drastically and radically change the face of America. How could that be so non-compelling that you would chose not to vote? And this time there's even more at stake. Now, more than ever, is the time to act.