Absentee ballot

I got my absentee ballot in the mail yesterday, and sat in a PC bang for about three hours doing research on the candidates. I confess I haven't been keeping up on Hawaii news, in part because the Star-Bulletin has been added somehow to their firewall's "alert" listing and is therefore blocked. It sucks because I'll see stories at Google or Fark and I can't read them.

Anyway, so I got this incredible feeling while I was filling out the ballot, one I had never felt while voting before. In the U.S., when you vote, it's not really that big a deal. Everyone can vote. It's not really that special of a thing. In Korea, though, it's like you are one of the privileged few that get to choose the U.S. president.

I wonder how many people around the world would like a chance to choose its most powerful head of state -- I bet the Palestinians would like to have a shot. Certainly the Iraqis. The Canadians I've talked to would. Though mine is just one vote in a small state that is solidly Democrat, I feel like a celebrity of some sort. I feel like I have a duty to represent those who have no voice, but who still have to deal with the consequences.

There's a lot more at stake in this election than just the future of the U.S.