Billy's Lines Of Gibberish

A poster of Karl Zero's movie 'Being W.' in a metro corridor in Paris

U.S.Americans will elect their new president on November 4, 2008. Although the total U.S. population (around 300 million) is only 2,2% of the whole world population, elections in this country are the most important in the world. First, because the U.S.A. has remained the sole military superpower after U.S.S.R. collapsed; secondly, because it has the world's largest economy, if you don't take the European Union as a single entity.

Georges W. Bush, the most controversial U.S. President for decades, to say the least, has been in charge for eight years. His time is almost over at last, phew. The next U.S. President will hardly do worse than him, but who will that be? Hillary Clinton? John McCain? Barack Obama? People all around the world are very concerned with this question, that raises a paradox: they cannot vote in the U.S. election obviously, even though its consequences — in as crude terms as life and death — will be more important for many of them, in the Middle East especially, than for U.S. citizens.

It is fairly understandable that U.S. citizens vote according to personal and internal reasons essentially. It is the same in every country. Yet not every country has a commitment in world's affairs and an army like the U.S.A. has. It is a pity then that many U.S. people are little interested in international politics, and often ill-informed about countries, people, and cultures abroad... 97 percent of the world, that is.

U.S. citizens should not hide their head in the sand: fairly or not, their votes carry a global responsibility. The choice they will make at the end of the year is of overwhelming importance for people all over the world — these 6 billion+ people that will not vote on November 4, 2008.