Election rally.

On Tuesday I had an opportunity to go and experience a real, all-American election rally, as Bill Clinton came to visit UC Davis to endorse four Californian congressional candidates. A few thousand students and staff of the university gathered to listen what he had to say, and some of the aspects of this event really surprised me.

After an hour of waiting in the bright sun, we were first greeted with the flags of USA, California and the University (not sure of the third one, didn't pay enough attention). And then everyone pledged allegiance to the flag. I found this a bit surprising, the same way how I was surprised in Thailand about standing up for the national anthem before a movie starts in a cinema.

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

Apparently, the allegiance to the flag is pledged at the start of every school day. And some people think that this is a great way of teaching patriotism to children. In my opinion, the country just should be run well enough so that its people would feel proud about it. I guess coming from a country with a clear national identity, patriotism and pride in one's country are not difficult to conjure, but in a melting pot like USA the national identity is not as clear and the patriotism has to come from elsewhere.

And then there are still countries where the flag is really not a thing to be paraded about, saluted or pledged allegiance to. For example Germany, with it's dark past in patriotism taken too far. And England, where the Union Jack has symbolises far-right wing politics, whereas the English flag is happily displayed in cars and windows during the World Cup.

In addition to pride in one's nation, the pride in one's university seems rampant here. Much more than in Europe, people wear their university's colours (t-shirts, college shirts, hoodies) just about everywhere. And during the election rally, when any of the speakers mentioned Aggies (a term for UC Davis student, deriving from UCD's agricultural background), the student population cheered wildly. I just can't see this happening in Europe - but why? Are we just so reserved, or do we play down our enthusiasm, or are we embarrassed to go to university? Or do we just not feel that we need to identify with our alma mater?

After the flags, there were speeches from the president of the student union, as well as president of Davis College Democrats, and it was funny to follow the crowd's mood. Everyone was expecting President Clinton to speak, and every time the next speaker was introduced as the president of... Davis College Democrats, the crowd would start to cheer at "president" and boo when they realised it was someone else than Clinton.

Really good coverage on who was speaking and what was actually said can be found in the Aggie, including photos and a video of Clinton's speech. Other news articles include one in Sac Bee, with some good photos.

In California, they're not voting only for a president on Nov 6th but also for a senator, representatives, state senators, state assembly members as well as ten propositions that would change California state legislation. All the speakers brought up the importance of being registered to vote (this can be done with your smart phone!) and then actually voting (for a democrat). The speakers also offered their opinions on how to vote for propositions 30 and 32, and some rallyers were carrying "Right to Know, No to Prop 38"- banners.

I think I like the proposition system. I've felt often that voting in many countries bears no difference and that the results are leaders who are exactly identical to each other, but still I always vote. Voting on propositions really gives the power decision to people, and if I was allowed to vote here, I'd make sure to read up all the issues and talk to people about them. Furthermore, propositions can be started by anyone with a sufficient number of signatures on a petition. I guess the biggest downsides are voter apathy/lack of knowledge, as well as voter persuasion by big companies' marketing. But probably big companies can similarly campaign decision makers to their side in Sacramento and Washington.

President Clinton finished his speech saying "God bless you all", and this was greeted with a lot of cheering. This is yet another thing that confuses me, the link between the church and the state. In Europe, if you ended your speech with God's blessings, you'd be considered off your rocker. State and religion don't mix in the Western world, except in this country of extreme political correctness where Christmas is called Winter Holiday to avoid offending non-Christians. Well, I have nothing against Christian values, especially if they would mean that taxes would be spent on supporting the poor and the sick!