[extropy-chat] If the nonUS citizens voted in Nov 2 elections...

[Mike Lorrey]

--- Eliezer Yudkowsky <sentience at pobox.com> wrote:

> Brian Lee wrote:
> > I think one of the important priciples of democracy is that only
> members 
> > of a given set vote as they have a vested interest. It's rather
> foolish 
> > to allow non-citizens to vote as their concerns are unlikely to
> coincide 
> > with the concerns of the society holding the vote.
> > 
> > We'd get all sorts of wackiness like landslide elections that 
> > redistribute all wealth away from US/Europe into poorer countries,
> etc.
> > 
> > BAL
> 
> Would it be so terribly dreadful if the rest of the planet got 10
> seats in the House of Representatives?  It might go a long, long way
> toward easing anti-American resentment, and maybe even bringing a
> faint tinge of sanity to this country's foreign policy.  I think at
> least 30% of the hatred out there is due to America's - no, Dubya's,
> let's give credit where it's due - way of appearing to just
> *completely not care* what the rest of the world thinks.

Ten seats equals 5.6 million people, or are you arguing that we should
value non-Americans as 1/1000th of a human being? You were saying
something about minimizing resentment?

I hear that Afghanistan has about 5 million citizens. How about we make
them the 51st state? Then even the most wild eyed Taliban can freely
travel here without a passport....

So when do I get to vote in the French elections? How about my Member
of British Parliament? Shall we let the Saudis have seats in the
Israeli Knesset?

When has the rest of the world ever GIVEN A TINKERS DAMN about what the
US thinks of them, except when it was a matter of getting money from
us?



=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom.
It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
                                         -William Pitt (1759-1806) 
Blog: http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Sadomikeyism


		
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