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July 21, 2004

"Ma, the world is coming to an end"

Two depressing stories of the day (both via lgf):

1. UPenn law school is cancelling a Criminal Law Theory Seminar to put American students to work drafting an oppressive "constitution."

2. The San Fransisco Board of Supervisors has agreed to allow a vote on whether non-citizens should be allowed to participate in local school board elections. [The Kansas City Star link requires registration, here's the link to the lgf story, with excerpt.]

In 1996, some Frisco residents attempted to allow non-citizens to vote in all municipal elections, though it was struck down. I think this initiative is indicative that they'll try this again:

Supporters of the new ballot measure said they are confident that this time, with the narrow focus on local school board elections, the proposal will stand up to a legal challenge.

"It's important because it integrates residents of the city who are disenfranchised in the decision-making process in schools," said Carlo Petroni, a founder of Movimiento de los derechos des inmigrantes...

A "yes" outcome in this school-board case would set a precedent for further measures to be passed. Why is this a problem? Because--and I can't stress this enough--the purpose of government is to act in the interests and at the behest of its citizens, not the citizens of any other nation. This very basic premise is the one that insures that a government is properly subservient to its citizens; the violation of this premise is at the root of many domestic and foreign policy problems today. If an individual wishes to affect U.S. government, he must prove his loyalty to to this country by obtaining citizenship. Otherwise, we could end up with members of al Qaeda effecting policy change.

Of course, this particular case wouldn't be so much of a problem if the government got out of the education business, as it should.

Posted by Carla at July 21, 2004 10:20 PM

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