The Absentee Ballot is the story of my four-year journey into a liberal inferno. I had been on many unforgettable Italian vacations saturated with history, art and the world's finest cuisine, but I was left unprepared for what turned out to be a life's lesson in the perils of socialism, or what we in America call liberalism. As a graduate in Sociology, I had anticipated the cultural differences and embraced them. But I was shocked by Italy's over-taxation, immigration policies and those European realities that had been mischaracterized by the American media. With each ring of the inferno, I was faced with different issues crucial to both Europeans and Americans. Recent polls indicate an American indifference to affairs beyond their borders. But before voting in office proponents of socialized medicine, higher taxes and powerful unions, it's crucial to understand how, if elected, those policies would affect your life. Allow my European parables to foreshadow your future governed by Democrats.