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Conservatives Starr, Dinh: Founders Would Approve Washington, D.C. Voting Rights

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Singles Online of 1:36AM March 29, 2010

ALL American citizens have an inalienable (innate, inherent intrinsic) right to be allowed to grant or withold consent to the government that rules over them...whether they live in one of the fifty "states", or in the nation's capital, or live abroad, or live in one of the many territories. The arbitrary, artificial, anachronistic construct known as a "State" has no enduring priority giving it precedence over the fundamental bedrock governmental principle of known as "Consent of the Governed".
From the Virginia Declaration of Rights, June 1776
"VI That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people in assembly ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community have the right of suffrage and cannot be taxed or deprived of their property for public uses without their own consent or that of their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not, in like manner, assented, for the public good."

citizenw of DC 5:06PM March 17, 2009

It is true that Americans who have moved abroad after the age of 18 may register to vote in their last state of residence.
However, there are untold numbers of American citizens who are born abroad and who have not yet lived in the US. They must register for the draft and submit tax returns yet many states do not allow them to register to vote. In fact the state of Virginia's constitution expressly forbids anyone to register to vote who was not a resident of the state at age 18. A child born in Virgina who moves abroad before they may legally register to vote in Virginia would thus not be allowed to vote in a federal election unless they return to live in the US.
Voting, taxation, citizenship laws... America's disdain for its citizens living abroad is without doubt the reason America has 3.5 times fewer expats than the average of OECD nations. And this expat deficit is without a doubt partially responsable for our staggering trade deficit. Without Americans on the ground in other countries, our goods are certainly not going to sell themselves.

Eric Way 6:14AM March 17, 2009

Stegmeier, there is a uniform voting law permitting Americans overseas to vote in the last state in which they resided. Look it up.

Vince Treacy of DC 3:09PM March 16, 2009

The Wall Street Journal had it right a few weeks ago in my February 28 Letter to the Editor.
"There’s nothing ambiguous about the Constitution. It never intended to give D.C. the status of statehood. D.C.’s half million citizens are represented by 535 members of Congress who work in the city.
Contrast that with the plight of seven million American citizens living abroad. They pay more personal U.S. income taxes than D.C., but receive fewer benefits than illegal immigrants and have no senator or congressman to represent them. It’s a felony for them to register and vote in a congressional election from a foreign address. If given virtual statehood, this group of people would be the thirteenth largest state with twelve electoral votes, the same as Massachusetts. Isn’t it time to end this embarrassing servitude as Congress debates long denied democratic representation for D.C.?"
Working abroad is not always a personal choice if that is where your business sends you. If those 7 million people came home to regain their right to vote, unemployment in America would surge to 12.7% from the present 8.1%.

Richard J. Stegemeier of CA 2:04PM March 16, 2009