Vote 2006

In Paris during our honeymoon.
What do the French know? One could say a lot.

Please make sure you vote tomorrow. It's such an important election and so much is riding on it. This country must find its intellect, its vitality, its diversity and its honor again. Our country was built based on differing opinions, fresh modern ideas, ethical thinking and freedom. And yet these are the very values obliterated in the recent years. They have been obliterated by a one-party, monarchy-style government, dirty politics, an immoral occupation, failing foreign policies and the systematic destruction of our constitutional and civil rights for the sake of tricking the nation into feeling safe.

Now dissent is no longer viewed as an exercise of our cherished right to free speech. If you raise your voice in dissent, you are considered unpatriotic. Now we cannot rest assured that we have constitutionally protected rights and are entitled to the due process of law and that no one can take these rights away from us. Our homes can be searched without our knowledge and warrants; our library records are a sign of our intentions and therefore no longer private; our citizenships can be stripped on the basis of so little; our freedoms can be taken away without due process or access to habeas corpus; and we can be maltreated and harmed, as long as our president deems the treatment as "non-torture".

This country has become unrecognizable to its citizens who love it from the bottoms of their hearts. Sometimes, it looks and feels like the restrictive, backward, religious dictatorship my family and I escaped from. And this fact hurts my heart. You see, I am in love with my country. I think it's an amazing place born out of some amazing ideals. These ideals must be protected and defended when attacked, as they have been in the recent years.

For the love of God, if you're a citizen of this country, give damn and vote tomorrow.

God bless everyone in the world, as well as America