Saddam Hussein - You are Eligible to Vote

September 12, 2004

If the former leader of Iraq were able, he could find his way across the border, obtain a driver’s license, and perhaps cast a deciding vote on a city policy.  In short, he is eligible to vote. Any thug, terrorist, or anarchist may have the same right that you do.  The same is true of Fidel Castro though Fidel, no doubt a policy adviser to the Kerry campaign, might find Miami a little uncomfortable.

The point, and it is not humorous, is granting voting rights to noncitizens. The Democrats support this measure and, in fact, it is already being used in various cities and towns.  Of course, the Democrats are willing to grant voting rights to the Taliban, if only they promise to vote for Kerry or the next laggard they put up for 2008.

Citizenship is a responsibility.  For those who desire to become “Americans,” the steps are forever in their memory.  Citizenship in the United States remains the ultimate goal of countless people around the globe.  For all the work that an honest immigrant puts into becoming a true American it is cheapened by the Democrats push for the most important responsibility of attaining the status of citizen; the right to vote.

President Eisenhower once stated, “the future of this republic is in the hands of the American voter."  Note the inclusion of the word American.  Voting is no meager responsibility. Instead, the person voting is helping to shape the course of the future. 

Democrats, especially the liberal democrats, are hell-bent on the destruction of the Republic.  Securing voting rights for those who should not vote is but the latest, most insidious, plan to subvert those who are Americans by birth or process.  It is telling that if the Democrats had their way, Mohammed Atta, one of the hijackers on 9-11, may have been able to vote in certain municipal elections.

The local election is not as vital as the national election, or so goes the theory.  In fact, eroding the local process has serious effects on the national scene as well.  Activists in Hartford, Conn.; Washington, D.C; San Francisco, Calif.; and Los Angeles, Calif.; and in states such as Colorado, New Jersey, and Texas are determined to allow “everyone” to vote.  Would you want your local Mayor owing his or her election to noncitizens deciding how much money to put into a fund that provides for terrorism training for local officials?

How encouraging is it to those who face the citizenship decision to think, “I will go where I do not have responsibility” and avoid the process.  Why is it so terrible to require that those who wish to stand arm in arm with the rest of us pass through a process that at the most, requires them to learn the bare minimum about their new country?

Mark Krikorian of the Center for Immigration Studies makes a salient point in saying that, “Our Constitution begins “We the People of the United States” not “We the inhabitants” or “We the taxpayers” or “We the consumers.”  How many times will Democrats like Robert Byrd hold up a copy of the constitution on the senate floor, yet fail to read it?  The political institutions are fit only for Americans.  If they are Americans by birth, or those who choose to be Americans, either way, the institutions are only for Americans.

J. Thomas Lowry