Well, the Presidential election of 2008 is in full swing…as opposed to what it’s been in for the past year and a half, I guess. Anyway, the year is here. By this time next year we’ll be preparing to inaugerate our new Commander-in-Chief and I’m sure that I won’t be the only one who will be so damned sick of hearing about it that I could just scream.
There is one thing that baffles me every presidential election year, tho…I’m used to seeing the headlines every day and in every paper; and I’m used to the Race being the only topic of discussion on the 24-hour chatterboxes; but what I still do not get to this day is that this is true not only in America, but in so many foreign nations as well.
For’ners – why do you care? Every time I ask this question to a for’ner, they usually get defensive and huffy, taking some sort of elitist stance of “well, unlike you we care about world events,” which is utter crap and they know it as well as I do. The people of the UK, France or Canada don’t care who wins the presidential election of Paraguay or Mexico…but with America they are obsessed.
Interest wouldn’t be so bad, but all to often the for’ners seem to think that their opinions matter. They don’t. I know that sounds harsh, but it is pure fact. If you are not a US Citizen, then your opinion on our Presidential politics flat-out does not matter. We are not electing a leader who will be popular with you. We are electing a leader who is best for us. If you don’t like the person, well…piss off. Not trying to be combative here, but it really annoys me to no end when I hear a for’ner interjecting their opinion into our matters, often chastising us for “not making the right decisions.”
That’s just it, tho – they are our decisions. Do you think that many Americans would have elected Angela Merkl after the centerpiece of her campaign was to be as anti-American as possible? Do you think that we would have agonized to no end if Sarkozy had not been elected in France? Maybe some would have, but turnabout is fair play – the opinions of those Americans in those matters count for two things: jack and squat.
There are plenty of things going on in the world for non-US citizens to focus on in the coming year. Our presidential race doesn’t have to be one of them, you damned, dirty, voyeuristic for’ners!
