"Garwood, Robin" wrote: > Yes, it's true that "non-citizens who live in this country use many of its > services." However, non-citizens currently do not have the right to > allocate and direct their tax dollars - the quintessential "positive" right > in American democracy. Without this right, non-citizens are at the mercy of > the citizen majority's good will, something our form of republican > government fundamentally distrusts. Who's to say their tax dollars won't be > siphoned off to fix the roads of their more wealthy citizen neighbor's > communities? Who's to say they won't be paying for a police force that > abuses them? If they have no right to participate in our democracy, it's > pretty clear that *they* won't have a say. > > I believe the first step to finding our way out of this conundrum is to > de-link the citizenship issue in Minneapolis from the same issue on the > national level. Let's stop talking about people coming to "this country," > and start talking about people coming to this city. (It is the Minneapolis > issues list, after all.)
This isn't a conundrum. The line must be drawn somewhere as to who are citizens and who are not. As a country we invite some aliens to come here and share our resources and be our neighbors. Many of them have the right to become citizens if they should choose to do so. These people come here with the understanding that they will not the same rights as citizens and they do so of their own free will. > I consider my Somali and Hmong neighbors, many of whom have lived > Minneapolis longer than I have, as "Minneapolitan" as I am. Their interests > and mine have equal weight. They understand this city in an equally > accurate (even if different) light. The fact that they came from Somalia or > Vietnam and I come from Virginia should not make a difference. Their interests do not have equal weight with yours. The rights and responsibilities of citizens and aliens are not equal. > So. The easiest way to guard against non-citizen voter "fraud" is to make > the behavior legal. It will bring our actions into greater harmony with our > avowed beliefs. We will, I believe, craft better public policy with > everyone involved. This logic is flawed, e.g., the easiest way to guard against home burglary is to leave your home unlocked. You can always eliminate the "crime" if you eliminate the law, but there are reasons why people have to become citizens to vote. Phyllis Kahn wrote: > My guess is > that the xenophobic factor statewide would have to come way down to pass > either. But I will certainly try. Why is it that liberals always seem to stigmatize the views of people that disagree with them? I am not an xenophobe, I just happen to disagree. Michael Atherton Prospect Park _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:mpls@;mnforum.org Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
