Posted on 07/07/2008 3:48:50 AM PDT by John Leland 1789
An Expat’s Guide to Participatory Democracy
Rupert Pupkin
One of the dangers of living abroad is that one may eventually slip into a disconnected state in which paying taxes and other rights and responsibilities of citizenship are displaced by a rootless enthusiasm for foot massages.
The nation seems to be getting on quite well without his input, the expat reasons, it’s still somewhat powerful and wealthy, so perhaps the best thing he can do to ensure its perpetuation is to keep out of internal debates and contribute to its greatness through neglect.
If a bad guy gets to be president, it wasn’t the fault of one man living on the other side of the world, and if a good guy gets to be president, well, that’s groovy. He’s been meaning to get that absentee ballot, and has assured friends and family he’s done so. Certainly his intentions are good.
There comes a time, however, usually around the decade mark, when the long-term expatriate senses that his intentions are not a substitute for good citizenship. At the mere mention of the commonwealth he gets all choked up. And though such emotions are easily mitigated by an ear candle or pedicure, these feelings will impinge on his ability to live the carefree and charmed life of a circumstantial tax fugitive.
This is not to say that all expats are deadbeats. There are some who maintain a healthy relationship with the revenue service and proudly display their laminated voter registration cards to curious locals who can only imagine what it feels like to select the top man. We are grateful to these individuals, for they dispel the stereotype of the expat as a fair-weather citizen who only remembers his national birthright and scampers home when his hosts begin burning his people in effigy.
Absent during moments of national tragedy, though not immune to vague pangs of patriotic nostalgia, the apathetic expat is tempted, when presented with the prospect of real change in the form of a candidate who emerges from the pack of god-fearing white men, to chuck his cozy apathy and enlist in a Cause.
We are at such a moment in time, and rather than be a distant spectator at the historic occasion, there is a little voice, which might be the remnants of a national consciousness, telling us to get right with the homeland.
Where to begin? When an expat wants to reconnect with home he or she will point themselves in the direction of their nearest consulate and gird themselves for the prospect of waiting in line. Years of isolation and foot massages have conditioned mind and body to recoil from involuntary acts of selflessness. It is one thing to replace a stolen passport, and quite another to participate in the democratic process.
Driven on by the desire to see an intelligent, articulate man with a funny name ascend to the presidency, we secure the voter registration form and vow that this time it will not get buried amid the stack of bank statements, social security documents and miscellaneous notices gathered up during once-a-year sojourns home to see ma.
By this time we are as pumped up at the prospect of regaining some semblance of citizenship, hell bent on contributing to the historic moment. We’ve gone so far as to send a few bucks to the candidate and attend a few functions hosted by a group of do-gooders called Democrats Abroad. (Prior to attending the events, we’ll read newspaper articles about the campaign, focusing on one electoral issue that will form the basis of all our conversations.)
Having returned to the fold, one becomes overwhelmed with newfound purpose, and it is not uncommon for the exuberant expat to reach out to the tax authority, and even seek to make restitution on decades-old parking fines. He acts thusly not in preparation for a permanent return to his homeland, but in the knowledge that such a reckoning will, in the long run, allow him to continue enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness on foreign soil without a hint of hypocrisy.
Everything I see publlished for and in the expatriate community is liberal to left wing. They are pushing Obama; of course, for the same liberal, illogical reasons.
I have emailed Pupkin to inform him that many expats are getting registered and voting with the intent to prevent the "intelligent articulate man with a funny name ascend[ing] to the presidency . . ."
In more than twenty years working abroad, I have concluded, however, that most expatriates are in fact liberals
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