I stopped voting about a year back. I just felt bad having a voice in how the United States is run when I am not affected by it. I have always been crazy about voting. Voting is power. For centuries, people in power tried to keep poor people, people without property, women, Black people, people who can't read, convicted felons and other groups from the ballot. There is a reason for that.
Because I am not a German citizen, I am not able to vote here, so I just gave up on the dream of practicing democracy.
This year, Newt Gingrich promoted the idea of colonizing the moon and Rick Santorum wanted to make everyone as conservative as him. That made me re-think my vote. I felt like I should do something to make sure those evildoers do not succeed. I think Mitt Romney is pretending to be conservative but I'm not 100% certain. The only way to be 100% certain that the country doesn't move to the dark ages is if I vote.
I dithered on this stance. I asked Americans living in Germany and Germans. Both groups instantly gave the same vociferous response: Vote, you idiot. Maybe I will move back the United States unexpectedly and so I will be directly impacted. My family and friends will be influenced by new policies and I should support them. And, most importantly, I am an American citizen, so I should just vote for goodness sakes.
I sent my application to continue to receive absentee ballots two days ago. In the fall, I will get an email ballot. Cool.
Vote you idiot! Glad you're doing it. You know, there are a hell of a lot of long term expats floating around out here, and we're badly enough represented as it is. Do you know that, according to the census, we don't exist? Personally, I think they should give us our own Representative. In the mean time, I got citizenship in the UK so I can have a say in the place where most of my tax money is going. My vote doesn't seem to make a dent on either side of the Atlantic, but I keep trying!
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