Elections
For all my American friends: Remember that your vote counts. JM and I were pleasantly surprised when our absentee ballots arrived here in the Possum Kingdom a good ten days ago. We immediately filled out our ballots and got them back into the same day's mail. If all goes well, our votes will be counted right along with everyone else's.
Clearly, as foreign residents, we can't vote for everything we would like back in California. And, I do regret not being able to vote in the gubernatorial election. I would really, really like to see Arnold defeated. Still, we get to vote for national offices. In our district the outcome isn't particularly close or in question, but it feels good to be able to participate nevertheless. Just because we don't still live in L.A. doesn't mean we don't care about America. We do and would like to see the current course of events reversed.
We are also heading into an election year here in France. This will be the first time I've lived here during a presidential election. Although we were here in 2002 when far right wing candiate Le Pen surprised everyone by coming out ahead of Lionel Jospin (socialist) to go head-to-head with Jacques Chirac. We arrived in Paris the day that massive countrywide protests were scheduled and, since JM's parents live directly on the main "protest route" for 90% of the marches that take place in Paris, we got to see the truly impressive turnout. I really don't believe that I've ever before seen anything like the massive sea of people who were out making their voices heard that day. There were so many of them that the march was actually gridlocked for several hours and people just had to stand where they were. Chirac took the second vote by some massive percentage.
Elections are run quite differently here. The various candidates for their parties' nomination are declaring their intentions this week. Their are no primaries and it will be the party itself who choses the final candidate. This will be done about two weeks before the actual election, and the campaigning for the race itself lasts only TWO WEEKS!!! Imagine that; only two weeks of national campaigning, not months and months of the stuff.
Another huge, and seriously important difference in my opinion, is that there is NO TELEVISION ADVERTISING. Now, in the U.S. (for all my non-American readers), there is massive fundraising to finance long running, often vile television commercials. We are inundated with them for months on end and no candidate can possibly win if his commercials don't make an impression. Most American voters only know what they think is a candidate's position based on his/her commercials, or worse, on the commercials of the opponent. Mud slinging doesn't even come close to describing the process.
French candidates will get actual television air time to talk about their policies and views. They can have handouts but no real advertising. Yes, there are political cronies, etc. But without the ad campaign, I can't help but feel that the process is more equal.
So, I will be watching all of this with great interest. We may wind up with the first woman president in French history. I wonder if the U.S. is ready for that?
Ciao for now,
Randy
Clearly, as foreign residents, we can't vote for everything we would like back in California. And, I do regret not being able to vote in the gubernatorial election. I would really, really like to see Arnold defeated. Still, we get to vote for national offices. In our district the outcome isn't particularly close or in question, but it feels good to be able to participate nevertheless. Just because we don't still live in L.A. doesn't mean we don't care about America. We do and would like to see the current course of events reversed.
We are also heading into an election year here in France. This will be the first time I've lived here during a presidential election. Although we were here in 2002 when far right wing candiate Le Pen surprised everyone by coming out ahead of Lionel Jospin (socialist) to go head-to-head with Jacques Chirac. We arrived in Paris the day that massive countrywide protests were scheduled and, since JM's parents live directly on the main "protest route" for 90% of the marches that take place in Paris, we got to see the truly impressive turnout. I really don't believe that I've ever before seen anything like the massive sea of people who were out making their voices heard that day. There were so many of them that the march was actually gridlocked for several hours and people just had to stand where they were. Chirac took the second vote by some massive percentage.
Elections are run quite differently here. The various candidates for their parties' nomination are declaring their intentions this week. Their are no primaries and it will be the party itself who choses the final candidate. This will be done about two weeks before the actual election, and the campaigning for the race itself lasts only TWO WEEKS!!! Imagine that; only two weeks of national campaigning, not months and months of the stuff.
Another huge, and seriously important difference in my opinion, is that there is NO TELEVISION ADVERTISING. Now, in the U.S. (for all my non-American readers), there is massive fundraising to finance long running, often vile television commercials. We are inundated with them for months on end and no candidate can possibly win if his commercials don't make an impression. Most American voters only know what they think is a candidate's position based on his/her commercials, or worse, on the commercials of the opponent. Mud slinging doesn't even come close to describing the process.
French candidates will get actual television air time to talk about their policies and views. They can have handouts but no real advertising. Yes, there are political cronies, etc. But without the ad campaign, I can't help but feel that the process is more equal.
So, I will be watching all of this with great interest. We may wind up with the first woman president in French history. I wonder if the U.S. is ready for that?
Ciao for now,
Randy
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