Should noncitizens be allowed to vote?

When she started teaching, pay for teachers are an order of magnitude lower. In fact back then it was very common for teachers to have a second job in June and July that paid at a much higher rate than their teaching jobs. It also wasn't unusual for teachers to take all their pay for the year over a ten month period and then file for unemployment benefits in June and July.

Of course this isn't possible today.

None of that refutes what I said.

Non-citizens?

If they are permanent residents. Yes. State level elections. Not Federal.

In the country for some other reason (say like going to college as a foreign student) but not a permanent resident or not on the work visa program? No.
Work Visa? No.
Illegal? Hell fucking no.

I do think there needs to be a time limit on permanent residents. Ideally, I'd like to see a system where being a permanent resident is the last step to becoming a citizen in a short amount of time. There are permanent residents out there that have been permanent for decades. That needs to go.

Edit: Also it should be up to the state. California says permanent residents can vote in state-level elections? Okay. Texas says permanent residents can't vote in state-level elections? Also okay.

As I recall that is actually a nice step up compared to previous positions. Congratulations on that. Holding a good job is an important accomplishment.

exactly! While I disagree with much of what the military does with recruiting & retention (constantly changing standards etc. I could write a book on that shit) fast-tracking citizenship to those willing & able to defend the rest of the citizens is very fair & sensible. That said if Blackwater devolved into mercenaries (civilian forces contracted for supplemental security but steeping out of bounds as their SOP) they would be acting in a mercenary role. I'm guessing most of their employees were US citizens heavy on ex-military. I'm doubtful if many non US citizens were on their payroll - and if they were, working for Blackwater would not fast-track their citizenship.

Did I myself join the military for the money & benefits & physical safety? Yes I did, no doubt about it - but that doesn't make me a mercenary.

Wrong on the 100 percent voting democrat - I know a lot of immigrants from third-world shit holes who vote republican.

B is a problem for me too. The government is just like the justice circus - they won't own their mistakes.

Sorry, this does not define what a mercenary is. It defines what mercenary means when the word appears in the Geneva Conventions.

A mercenary is simply a foreign national who is paid for military service. People who obsess over outfits like Blackwater may think mercenaries have to be paramilitary. They don't. They can be in your military, or they can be in someone else's military.

So if Blackwater is working for the US, they aren't mercenaries, but if they're working for the UK they are mercenaries?

Could be. I think the US government just calls them "contractors", don't they?

This isn't a new word. The historical stigma associated with mercenaries has always been their questionable loyalties. They're not patriots, and they're not necessarily in it for "the cause". They can be wildcards. If they're just in it for a buck, then perhaps their loyalties are for sale. Or perhaps they'll fold under fire.

To the topic, I favor a path to citizenship through military service for some noncitizens. But that's not the same as allowing noncitizens to vote -- it's allowing noncitizens to earn their citizenship.

It's obvious that the left is trying to import a new constituency since it can't rally reliable majority support for its policies among actual citizens. It's amazing how any American can support this without questioning their own patriotism. I can't imagine rationalizing an idea so un-American that I have to dilute the American electorate to pass it. But this is just another day in liberalism.

Democrats have won the popular vote 6 out of the last 7 presidential elections.

Everybody calls them "contractors" now. My point is that I see a huge difference between a foreign national who is hired by a government to conduct military operations, and a foreign national who has actually enlisted in a government's military. It's the difference between Blackwater and the French Foreign Legion.

I don't know. Since I used the word, I get to choose which meaning I intended. Seems silly for a bunch of useful idiots to be telling me that word can only have the one meaning they're familiar with. My meaning is right there in dictionary.com.

Mercenaries don't just fight for a paycheck. During the Rwandan Genocide, South African mercenary unit Executive Outcomes offered to go to the country immediately and halt the genocide and be paid afterwards. It was estimated they could've saved 200,000 lives. But African nations were reluctant (to say the least) to send a mercenary group created by former Apartheid era South African soldiers (most of the officers were white, most of the enlisted men were black) to a black country to restore order.

Which is still not enough of a majority per the rules. Sucks to be you guys these days, I know.

But hey, maybe we can import some more third world illiterates to help you win anyway, huh??? All the best policies are the ones backed by impoverished ignorant masses.

Fair enough.

So by calling the non-citizens serving in the US military "mercenaries", you were implying what? That they aren't to be trusted?

Here's a related idea:

Should the census be tied to citizens alone, or should we count everyone who resides in the U.S. regardless of status?

I think the Constitution says to do the latter.

Kentucky, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania are also commonwealths and not states. The argument is semantic only. Ironically, it originates in anti-monarchial sentiment but it has zero bearing on, well, anything. PR is a territory.

No one but you is talking about "foreign nationals." But keep barking.

Right the idea is to get an accurate read of all the people living in an area, regardless of their status.

I can see the same logic for allowing non-citizens to vote in local and State elections. You want to get a proper pulse on the wants and needs of everyone in an area regardless of status since you will have to deal with all the people in an area and want buy in.

Virginia is just weird. I mean cities OR counties, what the fuck?!?!

I generally agree about the illegal aliens*, but as long as the temporary aliens reside here, consume here, and are paying taxes, why not? Tax remittances if you’re worried about that. But even up to the state level, there are no foreign policy concerns to worry about loyalty for. Certainly none at the school board or municipal levels.

*technically this argument covers them too, but that’s hardly a political hill anyone should be willing to die on.

It may imply citizenship, but it only entails residency. No reason we can’t strip off that implication.

FTFY.

As for your last point, you "deal with" illegals by ejecting them.

Ok, I was honestly wondering.

Local elections are one thing, but State elections are something else entirely. State elections have too much of an effect on Federal elections to allow non-citizens a vote IMHO.