With the primary elections having just taken place, I have been thinking a lot about voting. I am not allowed to. As a permanent resident (green card) I can not vote in any elections that mean anything to me in my adopted homeland - I have to be a citizen. Now, I understand that citizenship should have certain privileges but wasn't there once a famous tea party in Boston with the idea that there should be no taxation without representation? Well the USA government has no problem taking my tax dollars but yet I do not get a say in anything. By the time I am allowed to apply for citizenship, I will have been in the USA, paying taxes, for about a decade. I have colleagues from China who are on the wait list for a green card and they could very easily live here 20 years without the right to vote (all while paying taxes).
For those of us who are going through the proper immigration process (and spending thousands to do so) why not allow people to vote when they gain permanent resident status? One of the core principles of USA society is fairness and justice. Where is the fairness and justice in allowing people to pay taxes and contribute to society for over a decade before allowing the right to vote?
