Time to make a difference..

My first chance to vote after becoming a US Citizen. They gave me a voter registration card when I went for the Swearing in ceremony.. but I was moving from
Sunnyvale to Cupertino at that time and didnt fill out the form.. that was a bummer..

Now apparently it is too late to register online.. so have to go mail the thing in.

But the funny part in american politics is that when you register to vote, you are actually asked "what is your party ?".. this part is new to me. In India, you go vote for which ever party you think needs to take over the city, state, country, etc.. you decide who the better mayoral, chief ministerial, prime ministerial candidate is !!

Now, I had to go find out if I am a Republican or Democrat.. this is a tricky situation. Why ?

When I came to the US of A in 1993, I was really impressed by Bill Clinton. So was every graduate student who moved here in the early nineties. The guy wanted to stop oil wars, was welcoming students who wanted to come here and do their Ph.D's, the whole country gave us a red carpet welcome. We felt at home here. Things of course have changed. Two ways..

1. I am no longer a student who makes a few hundred dollars in stipend a month and gets around everywhere on his used road bike. I am married, "settled" in the true sense of the word, in the USA, and own a car and a van which when pushed, make me shell out 200 bucks or more in gasoline every month!! Add to it the fact that I am still friends with my gay, ex ballroom dance buddies and I am trying to bring up two daughters in a country where suddenly having foreign roots is un-cool!

2. The United States is no longer the same. A country that couldnt be attacked by any streach of imagination is attacked, that too by terrorists. I find a dark side to USA when I hear of things about scandals in the middle east. I still remember grandpa telling me the day of my first trip to the US of A "You are going to a punya bhoomi (land of good karma)". He went on to elaborate how Americans gave away free food, milk powder in the sixties when things were so bad in our home town. He told me that America is a great country, a land full of do-gooders!! Now, I am somehow torn by the people who forward emails to me about how Iraq got what it deserved because somewhere in the bible there is something about "they incurred the wrath of the eagle" or some such sentence.. I learn that the US is no different from India when it comes to Politics mixing with religion or people voting because they are scared, or because their religious head said they should vote for x, y or z!

To add to all these turmoils, I love Arnold as a governor, not because he is a movie actor, but because he actually has his eye on the ball. I mean, he has his eye on the bottomline...

So, took this test today at this link and this link.

The result ?

Apparently, I am a Liberal Democrat with a capital D!!! Have to keep this in mind when navigating the political landscape of the USA...

Next thing on the to do list ? Find out where the Mrs. ends up in the tests.. now that is another post altogether..