Voting is a privilege. Many consider it a right, but it's a privilege to participate in government. Those who know me can perhaps guess who I voted for, but it's a secret. This was my first election as a voting member of the American population, a rite of passage I've coveted for ages. I've followed the campaigns and like many Americans was amazed at Hilary's success and shrugged at her demise. I enjoyed the conventions (via CNN online) and read the articles. I didn't find it a very interesting election, but I plan on living for more drama.
I'm convinced global nomads are some of the most brilliant people. We're expected to understand our own political system (often complicated), and that of our host country (often more complicated). We follow our own elections and that of our host country. Depending on our host country, we hide out in our homes during elections and if we're unlucky, we experience post-election violence and write hundreds of emails to family and friends assuring them of our safety (or lack of safety). The effort is exhausting keeping names and positions straight for two systems. Nonetheless, as before stated, global nomads are politically intelligent. Despite Americans overseas possessing this brilliance, Gallup Poll doesn't poll us, no one collects data on us nor did McCain or Obama make an effort to engage us. While I understand we are small numbers, I hold it against them.
November 4th for American overseas is a non-events. We watch a map of the country on internet newspapers color in red and blue. Depending on the country and time zone, one can easily fall asleep in the process. In Kenya for Election 2004, I stayed up all night watching the numbers come in. This year, I might stay up all night anyway, watching TV shows, writing papers and cleaning my room. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. What happens in Washington affects our world directly. As they say over there...God bless America
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