The World is Watching

Doug here - yes, I do exist ;-)

Carolyn & I are watching the US election with great interest. We're avid readers of US news websites and we get CNN, Fox News & CNBC on our satellite TV, but we also follow the election in the NZ newspapers and TV. I've read that this election is almost being followed as closely by foreigners as it is by Americans (here's a good article) and from what I see here in NZ, I think it's true. There's no doubt that US economic & political policies have huge impacts on people around the world.

US's reputation has taken a beating in all corners of the world this decade, and this corner is no exception. But I sense that the tide is turning with this election. Regardless of who wins the election this November, it appears that Americans may be able to look beyond race, sex and religion when it comes to picking their next leader. For a country that prides itself in being open minded and being a meritocracy, it's always amazed me that the US is one of the few developed nations that has always elected a male leader from the majority race and usually from the majority religion. The "best" the US has done to this point is elect one Catholic leader. But seemingly out of nowhere, we've now got a Catholic , an African American , a Mormon , a woman and a Baptist minister all in serious contention. This is really exciting. This is historic.

We've only been living in New Zealand for three months now but we like what we see when it comes to its protection of minorities' rights. Yes, there's lots of controversy around how the Europeans took control of the country from the native Maori, but today all official government business is performed in two languages (English & Maori) and Maori customs and language are taught in the public schools. A woman current holds the country's position of Prime Minister, and until last year, a woman held the CEO position of NZ's largest listed company (Telecom NZ). In 1893, New Zealand became the first self-governing nation in the world where all women had won the right to vote. Even the construction signs have women worker symbols on them as you can see from the photo above that I took today on my drive into town. The country still has a ways to go though when it comes to separation of church and state (see our Bible Study entries of last month)...