Aug 23, 2004
Without Representation
I am a Permanent Resident of US. As such I pay all state and federal taxes, I can own businesses and property, I can travel freely in and out of the US, I can get federal aid, I can get drafted, I can serve in the military, I can sue anyone and I can win the lotto. I cannot, however, cast a vote.
Never bothered me, really. I have never voted in my life. We don't have these"elections" that often in Pakistan and I was too young to participate when I was there.
I am eligible to become a US Citizen but never deemed it that important. After 9/11 and the round-up of Muslim males, my family in Pakistan freaked out and pressured me to become a citizen. I told them that if there is profiling, it is based on the color of my skin not the color of my passport. But, the panic was very real. In Chicago alone, there was a huge exodus of both legal and illegal South Asian immigrants. I know many, many people who left in the dead of the night. One family had only the wife waiting for her green card while everyone else was either a citizen or a permanent resident but they were afraid of being split up by the INS. They are now in Montreal.
I spend the last few days registering voters in Ohio and talking to people about the upcoming election. Invariably, I got asked about my voting past. When I told them that I was not going to vote because I couldn't, they were incredulous. What do you care? You cannot even vote. Well, I do care. Sure, I cannot do the least that any citizen of a democratic nation can. Doesn't mean that I do not have any vested interest in the outcome.
It became clear to me, as I drove home that I really, REALLY, want to vote. Unanimously vote. Be counted. I have never had such a palpable drive to do so. Of course, if I start the citizenship process now, it will take 2 years, so it doesn't matter in the short run. There are some movements advocating that green card holders be allowed to vote in municipal elections. Which is sure to piss Pat Buchanan off. But, I want to vote. Come January 2005, I will indeed apply for citizenship somewhere in N. America.
I am eligible to become a US Citizen but never deemed it that important. After 9/11 and the round-up of Muslim males, my family in Pakistan freaked out and pressured me to become a citizen. I told them that if there is profiling, it is based on the color of my skin not the color of my passport. But, the panic was very real. In Chicago alone, there was a huge exodus of both legal and illegal South Asian immigrants. I know many, many people who left in the dead of the night. One family had only the wife waiting for her green card while everyone else was either a citizen or a permanent resident but they were afraid of being split up by the INS. They are now in Montreal.
I spend the last few days registering voters in Ohio and talking to people about the upcoming election. Invariably, I got asked about my voting past. When I told them that I was not going to vote because I couldn't, they were incredulous. What do you care? You cannot even vote. Well, I do care. Sure, I cannot do the least that any citizen of a democratic nation can. Doesn't mean that I do not have any vested interest in the outcome.
It became clear to me, as I drove home that I really, REALLY, want to vote. Unanimously vote. Be counted. I have never had such a palpable drive to do so. Of course, if I start the citizenship process now, it will take 2 years, so it doesn't matter in the short run. There are some movements advocating that green card holders be allowed to vote in municipal elections. Which is sure to piss Pat Buchanan off. But, I want to vote. Come January 2005, I will indeed apply for citizenship somewhere in N. America.