: Law, Politics, and EthicsApr 01 2005, 22:43 PM

Who has voting rights in the United States of America? Who can vote for their favorite president? One has to be a US citizen 18 years of age and older. Hence, we have two specific barriers. If you are younger then 18 you cannot vote, if you are not a citizen, you cannot vote. Age we will leave for a next time. Now let's focus on the citizenship issue…
First of all, is it an issue at all? Most countries have the same rule and nobody seems to complain about it. Nevertheless, let's build a logical hierarchy. If we start from the bottom of the question, may be we will come up with a result that will surprise ourselves…
Who should (in ethical terms of course) vote for a governer of a state? Only citizens? So, then should a citizen leaving in Massachusets vote for a Colorado governer? No? Then why do citizens leaving in countries outside of US have the right to vote for our president?
Who should vote for the board of trustees for a local Home Owner Association? Only citizens? But if I live in this community shouldn't it be enough to allow me to vote? Only people who live in the community? But if I purchased a house in the community and am renting it out, shouldn't I be able to vote, may be I will start living in it next week instead? So if I have a private property in the community shouldn't I be able to vote no matter where I actually live? If so, then certainly citizens outside of US should vote for the president. But wait! Doesn't it also mean that if I have private property in US I should vote for him (or her ;)) too? If I know that a president will have a negative impact on my business, shouldn't I be able to vote for somebody else, no matter what citizenship I have, what nationality I have, and what color is my skin?
Does that mean that anybody who has any kind of property in the US (no matter big or small) should be able to vote? What about terrorists that might buy a tree, should they be able to vote too (say we cannot prove that they are terrorists)? The answer is probably no, but then would the “citizenship” barrier really stop them anyway? Doesn't this barrier simply lets people that were just born on American soil, but lived most of their lives in foreign countries, to control what United States does, while stopping people that have property/business in US, and thus are genuinely interested in our success, from making the best decisions?..
P.S. Note that I'm not sure about this issue myself. This “barrier” is not the only one that might not be operating the way it was intended, but as with the rest of them, I don't know of a better solution. May be you do?