Your ten word story says it all! Congratulations on being among the finalists!
Your points about the caucus process are valid. I hope you follow this up with an article about some proposed solutions. Please consider doing so. I'm interested in your ideas.
Throughout my life I have been on both sides: able to attend the Iowa caucus at times and unable to attend at others (due to work schedule, childcare, etc). I have also had "permanent" residence status abroad, when I lived in Mexico for 8 years. (At that time the U.S. did not recognize dual citizenship.) The resident status allowed me to work, pay taxes, and remain in the country (as something other than a tourist), but not vote. I thought (and still think) that is reasonable. If I'm not willing to become a citizen, why should I be able to participate in the election process?
I, too, want a representative government that works for us all. And I agree, we do not have that. Identifying issues in only a part of the work to be done. Without proposing solutions, the issues will persist or get worse. I appreciate the posts on The Real Mainstream, but it remains an echo chamber. Echo chambers are not inclusive either. If we aren't part of the solution, we're part of the problem. So I'm interested in your views about breaking outside our echo chambers and fixing some of these important issues.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Shirley! I think the election process is complex, and I do not have enough knowledge to suggest solutions to make it 100% inclusive. What I can do is to share what I experienced and witnessed as a problem. In a simple term, I think everyone who resides in a country and thus is affected by the policy of a country should have a say in the election process. But I cannot envision how it can be done in practice.
Your ten word story says it all! Congratulations on being among the finalists!
Your points about the caucus process are valid. I hope you follow this up with an article about some proposed solutions. Please consider doing so. I'm interested in your ideas.
Throughout my life I have been on both sides: able to attend the Iowa caucus at times and unable to attend at others (due to work schedule, childcare, etc). I have also had "permanent" residence status abroad, when I lived in Mexico for 8 years. (At that time the U.S. did not recognize dual citizenship.) The resident status allowed me to work, pay taxes, and remain in the country (as something other than a tourist), but not vote. I thought (and still think) that is reasonable. If I'm not willing to become a citizen, why should I be able to participate in the election process?
I, too, want a representative government that works for us all. And I agree, we do not have that. Identifying issues in only a part of the work to be done. Without proposing solutions, the issues will persist or get worse. I appreciate the posts on The Real Mainstream, but it remains an echo chamber. Echo chambers are not inclusive either. If we aren't part of the solution, we're part of the problem. So I'm interested in your views about breaking outside our echo chambers and fixing some of these important issues.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, Shirley! I think the election process is complex, and I do not have enough knowledge to suggest solutions to make it 100% inclusive. What I can do is to share what I experienced and witnessed as a problem. In a simple term, I think everyone who resides in a country and thus is affected by the policy of a country should have a say in the election process. But I cannot envision how it can be done in practice.