Should LEGAL residents, NOT citizens be allowed to vote?

[6SpeedTA95]

I think this is a good question and warrants discussion.

I personally think the answer is obviously no. If you come over from Europe, China, Japan etc on a work visa/student visa you're ejoying priveledges of being here. Do you think they should also be allowed to vote before gaining citizenship? What if they've lived here for a year, two years or five years?

yes or no and why?

[6SpeedTA95]

I think in the coming years with new immigration laws on the books political parties specifically democrats demanding that "residents" but NON citizens be allowed to vote. This would be "their right" as tax payers. Otherwise they're merely giving to a country and getting nothing in return.

This of course would not at all be true. As a legal resident you have access to our education and medical system along with access to the best economy on the planet. While I do not believe all democrats would justify such actions I think there will be some that step out over the next few years to court the vote of the new hispanic population that will balloon by some 12 million if this latest bill is signed into law.

I think you MUST be a citizen to vote. End of story.

[JaJae]

I think you should be a citizen to vote as well. Voting is one of the rights that should only be granted to citizens of our country.

[Sylkey]

As a resident of this county for 23 years (English by nationality) I find it kind of annoying to pay into social security that I cannot receive.

as far as voting its hard sometimes to see the voting process go on and not have a part of it but thats the price you pay not being a citizen. Giving up my British citizenship would be extremely hard for me, its something I hold dear to my heart.

But judging by the candidates that dance and sing before us every four years, they all sing a pretty song but when it comes down to it they have all been born priviledged, and have no understanding of how "normal" people (that they are supposed to represent) live, so how the hell can they represent us?? I wonder what kind of answer we would get if we asked them how much a loaf of bread was?

[6SpeedTA95]

Originally Posted by Sylkey

As a resident of this county for 23 years (English by nationality) I find it kind of annoying to pay into social security that I cannot receive.

as far as voting its hard sometimes to see the voting process go on and not have a part of it but thats the price you pay not being a citizen. Giving up my British citizenship would be extremely hard for me, its something I hold dear to my heart.

But judging by the candidates that dance and sing before us every four years, they all sing a pretty song but when it comes down to it they have all been born priviledged, and have no understanding of how "normal" people (that they are supposed to represent) live, so how the hell can they represent us?? I wonder what kind of answer we would get if we asked them how much a loaf of bread was?

Ronald Reagan grew up lower middle class/poor.

[thomez]

Bill Clinton did not grow up privileged either.

[Sylkey]

In 1963, two influential moments in Clinton's early life contributed to his decision to become a public figure. One was his visit to the White House to meet President John F. Kennedy, as a Boys Nation senator.[9][10] The other was listening to Martin Luther King's 1963 I Have a Dream speech (which he memorized).[13]
Clinton was also a member of Youth Order of DeMolay (but never actually became a Freemason).[14] He is a member of Kappa Kappa Psi National Honorary Band Fraternity, Inc.
With the aid of scholarships, Clinton attended the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., receiving a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service (B.S.F.S.) degree in 1968. It was at Georgetown that he interned for Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright.[9] While in college he became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.[15]
On graduation he won a Rhodes Scholarship to University College, Oxford where he studied government.[10] He developed an interest in rugby, playing at Oxford and later for the Little Rock Rugby club in Arkansas. While at Oxford he also participated in Vietnam War protests, including organizing an October 1969 Moratorium event.[9] In later life he admitted smoking cannabis at the university, but claimed that he "never inhaled".[10]
After Oxford, Clinton attended Yale Law School and obtained a Juris Doctor degree in 1973.[10] While at Yale, he began dating law student Hillary Rodham who was a year ahead of him. They married in 1975 and their only child, Chelsea, was born in 1980.

OK, SHOW OF HANDS HOW MANY OF YOU "NORMAL" PEOPLE ARE RHODES SCHOLARS, WENT TO OXFORD AND YALE????

[thomez]

Originally Posted by Sylkey

OK, SHOW OF HANDS HOW MANY OF YOU "NORMAL" PEOPLE ARE RHODES SCHOLARS, WENT TO OXFORD AND YALE????

Normal people are not absolutely brilliant and earn such distinctions, that does not make him privileged unless by that you mean mentally gifted. He did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was self-made.

[6SpeedTA95]

Clinton and Reagan were both self made, I don't want jim bob who works at Homeland at age 40 running this country.

I want someone who rose from the bottom to become the man or woman they are today.

[Sylkey]

Doesn't matter how many 4.0's you get, it still takes alot of brass for Oxford! Self made my arse. What we need is people in power that have some amount of empathy for the people they are supposed to represent!

[thomez]

Originally Posted by Sylkey

Doesn't matter how many 4.0's you get, it still takes alot of brass for Oxford! Self made my arse. What we need is people in power that have some amount of empathy for the people they are supposed to represent!

He got into Oxford with a Rhodes scholarship because of brilliance, nothing else. I'm not sure what the problem with that is, I would have done the same.

[6SpeedTA95]

Ok lets get this back on topic.

[Diesel66]

Originally Posted by 6SpeedTA95

Clinton and Reagan were both self made, I don't want jim bob who works at Homeland at age 40 running this country.

I want someone who rose from the bottom to become the man or woman they are today.

Condoleezza Rice as well.





Of course not. Every adult citizen being allowed to vote is too much, the idea of allowing foreign nationals a vote is ludicrous.

[Scrum]

Voting is a right that should only be extended to our citizens.

[Sylkey]

I concur.

[Linzyhop]

if you're a citizen you have the right to vote. ONLY if you're a citizen. I wouldn't expect to go over to Germany as a student with a visa and have been allowed to vote. it's part of your rights as a citizen of whichever country.

[Kytro]

While I agree they shouldn't be able to vote, nothing stops them from using lobbying

Originally Posted by Sylkey

As a resident of this county for 23 years (English by nationality) I find it kind of annoying to pay into social security that I cannot receive.

as far as voting its hard sometimes to see the voting process go on and not have a part of it but thats the price you pay not being a citizen. Giving up my British citizenship would be extremely hard for me, its something I hold dear to my heart.

But judging by the candidates that dance and sing before us every four years, they all sing a pretty song but when it comes down to it they have all been born priviledged, and have no understanding of how "normal" people (that they are supposed to represent) live, so how the hell can they represent us?? I wonder what kind of answer we would get if we asked them how much a loaf of bread was?

It seems to me that paying into social security knowing you will not be able to use it is also the "price you pay" for not being a citizen. It sucks, but that is a choice you made.

How long do you plan on living in the United States? Will you ever go back to Britain?

[kinggovernor]

Originally Posted by Sylkey

As a resident of this county for 23 years (English by nationality) I find it kind of annoying to pay into social security that I cannot receive.

that is one of the rules that you have to abide by if you want to live here. If you don't, you know where the door is.