By John E. Carey
November 7, 2006

My wife came from Vietnam "the hard way." She was on the run from the Communists, in and out of prison and on and out again. Hiding in her own house like Ann Frank with fear of capture.

She and about 50 others spent 22 days in an open boat without food. Their only fresh water was rainwater collected in little cups. Four people died.

After reaching the Philippines, my wife, mixed into a horde of other Vietnamese refugees, overwhelmed the Philippine government. They built small huts in a kind of "stalag" to house the refuges for ten years.

Saigon fell and was renamed Ho Chi Minh City in 1975. My wife made it to safety in the United States in 1998!

Today, along with millions of other legal American citizens, my wife is voting for the first time in her life.

She was just reaching voting age in a Democracy, South Vietnam, in 1975. Now she is a citizen of the world's premier and longest lasting Democracy, the United States of America.

Many Americans take voting for granted. Many Americans, more than half, do not vote at all.

In our family we discuss the issues and we vote. We hold our democratic privileges dear.