My fellow non-Americans ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1325982,00.html
The result of the US election will affect the lives of millions around
the world but those of us outside the 50 states have had no say in it
- until now. In a unique experiment, G2 has assembled a democratic
toolkit to enable people from Basildon to Botswana to campaign in the
presidential race. And with a little help from the folks in Clark
County, Ohio, you might help decide who takes up residence in the
White House next month. Oliver Burkeman explains how
Get the name of a US voter
Wednesday October 13, 2004
The Guardian
It's just possible that you have heard this once or twice before
recently, but the forthcoming American election, on November 2, may be
the most important in living memory. People have been saying this
about every presidential race for decades - but, as one
environmentalist put it recently in a US newspaper interview,
precisely the problem with crying wolf is that sometimes there is a
wolf. You would be forgiven, though, for feeling increasingly helpless
as you hear the "most important election" mantra repeated daily:
unless you happen to be a voter in a handful of swing states, there's
little you can do about the final result. If you're not American, the
situation is more acute. Certainly, the actions of the US impact on
our lives in overwhelming ways; British political life may now be at
least as heavily influenced by White House policy as by the choices of
UK voters. And yet, though the US Declaration of Independence speaks
of "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind", you don't, of
course, have a vote. You can't even donate money to the campaigns:
foreign contributions are outlawed. And you're unlikely to have the
chance to do any campaigning on the ground. All you can do is wait and
watch: you're powerless.
Oliver Burkeman
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=18510aff.0410020030.4c6c439%40posting.google.com
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