Then on campus I saw several people looking smug while walking around with their American flag backed "I voted" buttons and I wished I had this button (I just made it on Picasa):
Well, I'm not really that bitter about it, you know... Politics is tricky stuff. And I know if I stick around for a few more years and I decide to become a citizen, I'll be granted this "privilege." The worst part of politics for me is that for an overwhelming number of people, this privilege does NOT come "with great responsibility" -- they don't really care to vote.
When I came to this country I couldn't understand the two party system and how it really worked or what each party stood for. In Brazil there were two parties only when there was some kind of dictatorship or when elite minorities were in charge. Once the political opening took place in the 1980s, many political parties were created, fostering a diverse political climate (almost circus-like at times, literally! This year people voted an allegedly illiterate circus clown into the house of representatives as a lame protest: BBC). It's not only here that people seem to be losing their minds in the political discourse... :-(
In any case, for me the most remarkable difference -- which can be looked at from a positive as well as a negative point-of-view -- is that in Brazil, voting is mandatory. Sure, that can lead to the clown representative, but one can also argue that the elected officials are truly the ones chosen by the majority of the population, 16 years old and older (between 16 and 18 years of age one can opt to vote on a voluntary basis -- but one can't get a driver's license until one is 18 in Brazil, this all makes much more sense to me!!).
When the Bush Vs. Gore debacle took place in 2000 and whenever there's a presidential elections here, a lot of people in Brazil get really confused and cannot believe that a president got elected without the majority of the popular vote. I know how it works (it took over 10 years, but I finally understood), but lots of people around the world don't get it (and of course Americans could care less, right?).
I think what I wrote in the title is one of the things that bothers the most about American politics. And I know that you, "my fellow Americans" will argue that this is the very basis of your "democracy:" people have freedom not to participate in the election process. Fine, but when people don't get involved, they have no say and that is not good for them or the country.
A couple of days ago Laura (Apartment 11D) blogged about Saturday's Rally and a productive discussion ensued in the comments. One of the things that her friend Suze wrote here exemplifies one of the things I feel is "wrong" in the current political sytem/climate:
But I know a lot of others who did attend the rally. And they are not particularly political. Voting is the most political thing they do, and they only do that when there’s no line and they’re passing by anyway after picking up milk. It’s not that they’re so disillusioned they won’t vote, but rather that it may not fit conveniently into their day. They’re likely to go into the voting booth having only the vaguest idea of who’s on the ballot.
Yeah... so only the voice of those who care to vote is heard. And right now there's lot of screaming and screeching out there. :-( (at least the clown is comparatively harmless, no?)
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