Have you read it?

“Have you read it?” Remi charged into the room after having read an article in Le Monde. This was quite a while back. “What?” I answered sleepily while looking over yet another design blog. “Romney’s platform, have you read it?” “Well, sure I know the key points…the talking points,” I stammered and felt an embarrassed blush rise on my cheeks. For the next five minutes, he went through the list in a rapid-fire French, leaving me grasping to catch up. Because a lot of it was new to me. 

You see, for me it was already a done deal that I would vote for Barack Obama for reasons that are personal to me, just as I had decided that I would not vote for Mitt Romney for reasons that are also. But I realized that it shouldn’t be that, a given. Not for something as critical to my home country and the world as this election. There is far, far too much at stake.

So, for my many American friends out there, I will ask, “Have you actually read the platforms?” Even if you have very strong feelings about the “other” candidate(s)? Even if you have already decided? If not and you are so inclined, here are links to the central candidates platforms:

I have thought for months, literally, about whether to write a post about the upcoming election. I know that I may lose readers simply by stating that I am voting for Barack Obama, despite the willingness to “agree to disagree” which I so very much appreciate. The journalist in me felt that, as an American living overseas who has had the good fortune to travel extensively, I had perspectives that might be of interest and that it was my duty as a transparent writer to share them. Well, I have finally decided that I am not going to go into polemics any more than that. We are divided enough already. There is a reason why the French say, “Never speak politics at the table!” We all have our opinions, for many of us they are strong ones, so I will scale this down to communicate the two things that truly matter to me: to simply encourage those of you that haven’t voted yet to be certain that your choice is a well-informed one and by all means, no matter what, please go out and vote next Tuesday! Your voice counts. Yes, even if you live in a state where the electoral votes have been “decided.” We are all responsible for the outcome of this election and the world is waiting with baited breath…

Friends, I have been as respectful here as possible and I hope that you will show me the same courtesy in the comments section. For my non-American friends, thank you for your patience and to everyone, I will be back to my regular Frenchified posts next week!