Tuesday morning's Christian Science Monitor referred to a movement growing across the country of local activists lobbying for the right to vote in local elections. These individuals are taking advantage of a valued right for Americans to lobby freely for political causes ÷ and they do more than just lobby for the right to vote by approaching officials on matters like education. But, interestingly enough, they are not American citizens.
These individuals are legal immigrants who have been living in the United States for years and already reap many benefits from their residence. Now they are asking for the formal ability to effect change in their communities by being able to vote in their elections.
For many, the request seems reasonable since these residents are here legally, have jobs, have at least de facto leadership roles in the areas in which they live and pay taxes on the money they earn. They argue that extending suffrage to these immigrants will help build communities, even before citizenship, and will effectively eliminate a scenario where people are being taxed without getting a voice in the system.
Nevertheless, maintaining a distinction between American citizens and legal immigrants is vitally important to how the country runs.
Legal immigrants have the opportunity to live virtually like Americans. In fact, they even have the ability to receive certain kinds of welfare benefits. Giving voting rights to them is no small concession ÷ if they are awarded it could mark the beginning of a slippery slope that could have significant and negative impacts on the American system. If everyone who is in the United States legally has the same rights, there is no incentive for people to pursue citizenship.
The naturalization process clearly exhibits that there is a distinction between citizens and noncitizens. While it may take longer than needed because of bureaucratic flaws, it is a valuable tool for the government since it forces people who want to gain access to the full list of American rights to take time and become integrated into the system.
Beyond that, it forces people to manifest at least some understanding of how the system works in the place that they live and how they fit into it. For most American citizens, this accountability does not exist even though imposing it on them would likely bring American representative democracy up a few notches on the quality scale by mandating that they know what they are doing when they go to the polls. There are already enough Americans who are lost in the American electoral system ÷ there is no need to toss more potentially unqualified voters into the pool charged with choosing government officials.
The system ensures that the country does not take in more noncitizens than it can reasonably absorb ÷ why would the United States not want to bring in more people from outside its borders than it can handle? Among the vast number of sound, possible reasons, ranging from attempting to ensure economic stability to concerns of national security, the idea that a government is, to an extent, responsible for and accountable to its citizens should not be overlooked.
No one intelligent would say the American government is running at the pinnacle of efficiency now ÷ and that's just dealing with American citizens. Bringing more people under its umbrella of responsibility is highly unlikely to make things better.
If the right to vote were extended to legal aliens, there's really no reason to withhold from them other rights of American citizens. That is especially true if the argument is that paying taxes into the system warrants their right to vote. In that case, they should also be fully eligible to receive welfare, Medicare, Social Security, passports and protection abroad, and any of the other benefits that American citizenship brings with it.
At a time when the world is railing against the United States, citizens of other countries, even those who seem to hate America, come here in droves for the chance to study and make money. For many, citizenship is the final goal, but for others it is not. There is no reason to let those who do not want to live here have a formal voice in choosing government officials. But for those who do want citizenship, there must be a realization that in free markets and societies valuable things are not handed out ÷ they come with a price.
Aaron Okin is a regional development and political science junior. He can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu.