International Perspective on the Election

Being in Argentina for the Presidential hoopla has been so fascinating for many reasons.  But the first and foremost is the astonishing realization that US politics are really that important to the rest of the world.  I began to realize that in 2007 when I was in Germany for a Neuroethics conference full of students from Europe.  In March 2007, they were asking me if I thought Hilary or Barack would become the Democratic candidate.  This was 18 months prior to the elections and I was a little surprised by the question then, but I told them I thought it would be Barack.  

I have been asked since arriving here who I was voting for, who I thought would win, and what my general opinions are about US politics.  If I were voting for McCain, I think I would have either lied and said Obama, or kept my intentions to myself.  I have yet to meet a single person while traveling who was decidedly voting for McCain or who wanted McCain to win.  But I think you would have been challenged in not the friendliest of environments about "why the hell" you would vote for McCain.  While I am not a Republican, I do not think Republicans are stupid, idiots, or imbeciles, and every time someone would make such a comment, I would cringe and try to remind them that that is a large, unfair generalization to make.  I can understand (and agree with) the dislike of Bush, but that is not representative of all Republicans nor of the party platform.  It was certainly a challenge to try to remain civil while people slung mud.  I also realized, quite early on, that if the world could vote for our President, there would have been no question about who would win.  The US President really has power and influence unlike any other country's leader.  

I had voted via absentee ballot in October, and that was fun to explain, in Spanish, how absentee voting works.  I also learned that Argentina and Australia have mandatory voting requirements.  (I'm sure there are other countries as well, I just learned about these two.)  In Australia, the fine is about 40 Australian dollars and the fine is not often leveed, so it does not always serve its purpose of being mandatory.  However, in Argentina, when you vote, you get a stamp on your passport.  So if you don't vote, you can't leave the country.  While that may not be an issue for many who do not have the money to leave, that is certainly a way to ensure that many people follow the rules of mandatory voting.  So I began thinking about should voting be mandatory?  I think there are good arguments for it being mandatory-- everyone's voice is counted.  However, I am glad voting is not mandatory for me. It's something I believe in and choose to do every time I get the chance, but I understand that some people are so jaded by the government that they don't think their voice matters. So they choose to remain silent.  That is their choice.  Not one that I think is logical, but nonetheless, their choice.  In the US, we believe in choice and personal freedom and the ability to deviate from tradition and expectations and I'm grateful for those choices.

Back to the election.  I had become very accustomed to people asking me who I was voting for, but I was surprised one day when I stopped a restaurant owner for directions to a place.  He first asked me if I was from the States and then he asked me who I was voting for.  After I responded that I had voted for Obama, he gave me directions.  I looked at him and asked him if I had voted for McCain what he would have done.  He said: I would have given you the wrong directions.  The morning of 4 November, I flew to Lima, Peru.  In the airport, while checking my passport, the airline workers asked me who I voted for.  My taxi driver asked me who I voted for.  The people at the hotel asked me who I voted for.  It's a good thing I voted for Obama, otherwise I would have never made to any of my locations!  I spent that day walking around Lima and spent that night fretting over the results at my hostel.  There were 2 Americans and a room full of "others" all glued to CNN watching the results come in.  It was surreal.  I didn't know half of these people's names and here we were bonded together to watch the results.  After not sleeping for 2 days and jet lag, I was exhausted.  And once I knew that Obama would win, I thankfully went to bed.  Only to be awoken an hour later by the screaming when the official results came in and the party began.

The following morning, en route to Cuzco, I had this strange moment when, in Spanish, I read that Obama had won and the world was celebrating.  The world was celebrating what our country had done.  "Change" posters were everywhere.  Posters about the return of freedom and democracy and choice were plastered on booths in one of the poorest cities I've ever seen.  Our election influences the lives of people from around the world.  I was completely shocked by the reaction of the Peruvians only because I cannot tell you who their president is.  I only learned about the president of Argentina when I arrived here, and they can tell you who our VP nominees are.  It made me realize there's a reason many Americans are so self-centered; it's because the world really does watch us.  What we do, really does affect the rest of the world.

Similarly, I arrived in Cuzco and was whisked into the Andes and enjoyed a week of history and ruins and kind of forgot about the election.  Kind of.  I was shocked at how much I had missed when I sat in the Lima airport 10 days later thumbing through a "Time" magazine and had never seen some of these pictures.  I had not read the commentary, heard the concession or the acceptance speeches, or participated in the post-election hoopla.  I was a little sad.  And then I was comforted by the fact I had just been in Machu Picchu, and I can read and see all those images thanks to the internet.

So for good or for ill, our actions, our choice of President, our laws and bans, are interpreted and embraced or rejected by many more people than just those who live within our boundaries.