[lbo-talk] LBO-talk Fundrace

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Sun Jul 18 08:05:39 PDT 2004



>[lbo-talk] LBO-talk Fundrace
>Doug Henwood dhenwood at panix.com, Sun Jul 18 07:38:23 PDT 2004
<snip>
>Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
>
>>If we are talking about mathematics, what we are doing politically
>>-- giving time or money or both or nothing -- is irrelevant, but if
>>we are talking about domestic politics, that seems to me to be
>>highly relevant information. Why should I care about your opinion
>>if you do not think that your opinion is good enough for you to act
>>on it?
>
>As I recall, you're a citizen of Japan, and not the U.S. Since you
>can't vote, why should anyone care about your opinion of our
>presidential race? Or is that different?
>
>Doug

The question is not whether your deeds are in accordance with my words -- there is no moral or political contradiction if they are not -- but whether your deeds are in accordance with your words or whether your deeds in effect give a lie to your words.

Non-citizens have reduced options regarding what we can do to participate in US politics (and the same goes for any other nation), but, even for us, options are not zero. For instance, nothing blocks us from attending political rallies; buying stickers, posters, yard signs, etc.; distributing doorknob hangers, etc. It is my opinion that a human being should participate in politics actively anywhere she finds herself -- the opinion on which I have acted.

BTW, I'm in favor of non-citizen voting, and that is one of the many reasons why I think Matt Gonzalez is great. For his mayoral campaign, Gonzalez included the following plank:

SCHOOL BOARD ELECTIONS

Noncitizens with children have a vested interest in the state of our City's schools. They need to have a voice in how the schools are run and in how policy is set. As Mayor, I will push for legislation allowing noncitizens with children to vote in San Francisco School Board elections.

<http://www.mattgonzalez.com/article.php?id=211>

That's a step in the right direction. Gonzalez is still working hard to make non-citizen voting possible, and he may succeed:

San Francisco Eyes School Vote for Noncitizens Morning Edition audio July 13, 2004

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors proposes granting parents who are not U.S. citizens the opportunity to vote in local school board elections. The move is aimed at encouraging parent participation. Opponents want immigrants to become full-fledged Americans before they vote. NPR's Richard Gonzales reports.

<http://www.npr.org/features/feature.php?wfId=3351017> -- Yoshie

* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/> * Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/> * Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/> * Calendars of Events in Columbus: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>, <http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/> * Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>



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