i believe

I met a guy who already voted for McCain. We were in Puerto Rico, swimming in the waves of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of a San Juan beach. He looked young. He told me he's an original Nuyorican, that is, a Puerto Rican born in New York but whose family later relocated back to the motherland. He was on an 8-week break from his military service in Iraq. McCain wants to give him and his military peers more benefits, he argued. But, I countered, Obama wants you all completely out of Iraq. He was more concerned with the here and now. And actually, I should have been too, floating in those gloriously piss-warm salty waters underneath the gorgeous tropical sunshine. "We didn't come here to discuss politics now, did we?" he said.

But it's all-encompassing. No matter what light we shine on it, from whatever coordinates we are in the world, it is no exaggeration to say that a whole lot of my future, and everyone else's, rests on the outcome of tomorrow's election. I'm actually nervous. I'm turning down invites to "election viewing parties" at bars and friends' houses, because it almost feels too... personal? I have so much emotion invested in it that I may actually wail if things don't go the way I feverishly hope for them to. And it is so evident that I'm not the only one. So many times I've heard people say that tomorrow is everyone's election-- just not everyone gets a vote.

The whole world is watching us! The Economist even conducted a Global Electoral College to tally votes if the American elections were opened up to the whole world. It closed today as such:

So now I am not quite sure why Algeria, the Congo and Iraq are Republican (random!), but the incredibly overwhelming rest of the world would vote Obama. I pray everyday that we will too.

When I was growing up in the Philippines, I can't even count how many times I've been told how fortunate I am to have the freedom to come and go easily by virtue of my blue American passport. In a 3rd world country where human labor is cheap and plentiful, human rights are often violated without question, and a large percentage live on US$2 or less a day, it's easy to dream of better living conditions. And most often, people dream of America. They are eager to escape and work hard for many years just for that chance to infiltrate the so-called "Land of Opportunity" and get their own slice of the "American Dream." It's because of the alleged great American democracy that allows you to achieve success as big as you can dream it, but only if you're willing to work for it first.

I guess it really did take leaving for a bit and returning to this country to make me truly appreciate what I've taken for granted in the past. This is the country that puts such a premium on higher education that it has systems in place to reach even the most remote children, and adults, and offers them financial support to get them there. That allows women to have access to safe and accurate reproductive health information and options that best suit their individual lives. That takes its title of "World's Superpower" seriously enough to intervene with money, labor, moderators, and yes sometimes artillery, when other nations are in turmoil... clearly with varying degrees of success. That every year welcomes in foreign immigrants and refugees looking for better lives with this alleged "freedom." That is a veritable, incredibly diverse melting pot of all sorts of cultures and colors and lifestyles, and for the most part, we all do get along.

And then we squander all of that by voting in idiots who cannot possibly appreciate all these joys that America bestows on us, because they are born into wealth, they surround themselves with people of the same background and mentality, they have never left the country, and whose foreign policies are informed by the proximity of Russia to their house in Alaska. They want to instill in Americans a permanent sense of fear and defensiveness against foreigners and abolish the gains of Roe vs. Wade.

And year after year after year, I find it harder and harder to be proud to be an American. Whenever I travel I am constantly having to defend my government's bad decisions, and why? I don't support them myself.

So basically if McCain wins tomorrow, pass me the nearest shot of cyanide please.

If you're American, find out where and how to vote here. If you're not, pray for us please! We'll all just have to wait and see.