American Politics "Down Under"

We spent the holidays traveling Australia and New Zealand. During those three weeks I thought we would get a reprieve from the constant white-noise, bombast, and hyperbole that has become the American campaign process. Silly me. There was the International Edition of CNN breathlessly following candidates and particularly the Iowa caucuses as though the fate of the world teetered in the balance. Every newspaper published stories as well, and sometimes it was if we’d never left home.

After the caucus results were in, I dared to hope we’d spend our last few days “down under” free from the next phase of what has to be the longest electoral process in human history (after all it will easily be two years by the time votes are FINALLY cast on November 4, 2008). Again, I was mistaken. Sitting in our Auckland hotel room, we discovered live coverage of the New Hampshire debates, being carried by the Australian Sky News network.

I’ll be the first to admit that voting is a privilege and not a right, one I’ve proudly exercised since first getting the opportunity at age 18. However, with the campaign process growing longer and more expensive with each election, I can’t help but believe the British handle elections better – a 10 week campaign season, everybody votes, the results are calculated, and life moves on. Certainly America holds an important place on the world stage and perhaps other countries are genuinely following the process. Short of participation in a much more compressed campaign season (I can dream, can’t I?), it would have been nice to catch a break from politics. If only for a day or two.