Who does America belong to? It used to be that the most expansive definition possible would be her citizens. Yet now even that legalistic conception of identity, ownership of certain legal documents, is too much. New York City is gearing up to let non-citizens vote.
New York City immigrants who have legal working papers but are not yet U.S. citizens may soon be able to vote in municipal elections.
Legislation to grant noncitizen immigrants city voting rights will be introduced to the City Council on Thursday, sources familiar with the matter told the Daily News.
The bill, which is sure to draw criticism from conservatives, would amend the City Charter to allow Big Apple residents with green cards and noncitizen work authorizations to cast ballots in mayoral and other local races.
The measure could mean that anywhere between 500,000 and 1 million city residents would gain the ability to vote, a potential sea change in the city’s electoral dynamics.
[Immigrant New Yorkers authorized to work in U.S. may get voting rights in city elections under proposed Council bill, by Michael Gartland, Daily News, January 21, 2020]
The Daily News says "conservatives" will oppose the plan, thus subtly making this seem like a centrist measure. Of course, in reality, this renders American citizenship all but meaningless. However, the "sea change in the city's electoral dynamics" reveals the real reason for this bill.
Giving non-citizens the right to vote means effectively disenfranchising American citizens. It reveals a fundamental flaw with the American political system under universal suffrage. Each political party has an interest in suppressing the turnout of rival groups or, alternatively, bringing in foreigners that will render their votes irrelevant. It's the electoral equivalent of hiring firing mercenaries to put down a colonial upbringing. The political result of doing this is no different than importing Hessians. It's foreign conquest.
If America doesn't belong to its "citizens," and if saying only citizens should be able to vote is becoming just a fringe "conservative" position, who does it belong to? Either it belongs to a group that is so powerful that we can't even name it, or it belongs to no one and everyone. It's hard to decide which possibility is worse, that we are under occupation or that we are just becoming a giant shopping mall instead of a country.
