[dar-list] living in the USA

[Ellen Rawson]

--- Deana <dnasherry at juno.com> wrote:

> Since the U.S. has been the big empire of late,
> Ellen's husband is right that
> we are influencing the world so much that we should
> take our responsibility of
> voting seriously. 

I've lived outside of the US for about eight years
now. The perspective from this side of the pond is
interesting from time to time.

I wish we had better voter turn
> out as well. If we would
> make information more accessible to voters (i.e.
> write measures and
> propositions in easy to understand language)

When I first moved here, I still owned property in
Colorado (I've since sold that condo in order to buy
our home in England). Therefore, I was entitled to
vote in local elections -- not just federal ones. My
husband was appalled by all the working on all of the
ballot proposals, propositions, etc. 
, and
> allow equal television time
> to all candidates, and eliminate some of the
> advertising kind of air
> time....

It's so different over here. You don't get the
advertisements on TV and radio the way you have in the
US. There are yard signs -- generally just advertising
the party rather than a specific candidate (after all,
you technically don't vote for the Prime Minister; you
vote for the party and its leader gets in as PM). The
terrestial networks give equal time to each party
during elections. For example, Channel 4 will give
five minutes after the news to each party on different
nights. In other words, we're not bombarded nearly as
much as in the US. Also, of course, general elections
might only be called a month before the actual
election, so that makes a difference also.

> closer to home, didn't
> really know what the school board candidates really
> stood for etc. that I only
> voted partially on a ballot, or just made my little
> informed best choice. 

I taught back in Colorado, so I was very involved in
school board elections. :)
 A leader is
> someone who helps people make
> decisions. It's not about making decisions for us,
> but helping us make good
> decisions together--guiding the people. (OR so I was
> teaching my second
> graders this week.)

Your second graders have a good teacher! :)
 
Ellen