Try the political quiz
@B9TD8ZB DisagreementsCounter Arguments4mos ago

Granting voting rights to non-citizens undermines the very foundation of representative government

Voting is not just a voice—it’s a responsibility tied to citizenship, allegiance, and long-term accountability. Citizens vote not only for immediate outcomes, but for policies whose consequences they will live with for decades: taxes, national security, foreign policy, and constitutional law. Allowing non-citizens to vote gives political power to individuals who may not share that long-term stake or legal obligation to the nation.
A nation has the right—and responsibility—to define its political community. Every country in the world draws a line between citizens and non-citizens when it comes to voting, because sovereignty depends on self-governance. If anyone residing within borders can vote, then citizenship itself becomes meaningless, and the social contract collapses.
There are already lawful, fair pathways for foreigners to gain the right to vote: naturalization. This process exists to ensure commitment to the country’s laws, values, and civic responsibilities. Skipping that process cheapens the rights of citizens—especially immigrants who followed the rules and earned their citizenship.
You can support immigrants, respect foreigners, and welcome diversity without dissolving national sovereignty. Voting is not a universal human right—it is a civic right, reserved for those who are legally and fully part of the nation.
In short:
Participation in a democracy requires membership in that democracy.
Anything else isn’t inclusion—it’s political irresponsibility.

+
Expand

Knowledge quiz

How much do you know about Elections?

See if you know more than the average American.

Test your knowledge!

Knowledge quiz

How much do you know about Counter Argument?

See if you know more than the average American.

Test your knowledge!

No replies yet…

Be the first to reply to this disagreement.

Engagement

The historical activity of users engaging with this disagreement.

Loading data...

Loading chart... 

Demographics

Loading the political themes of users that engaged with this discussion

Loading data...

About this author

Learn more about the author that submitted this disagreement.

@B9TD8ZB

Last activeActivity2 discussionsInfluence1 engagementsEngagement bias100%Audience bias34%Active in
Counter Arguments  1 Disagreements  1 Agreements  1
PartyUndeclaredLocationUnknown

More conversations

Join in on more popular conversations.

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…2yrs2Y

U.S. Students Slide in Math, Science Test Scores

U.S. scores were no better than when the tests were first given in 1995. In math, the recent declines wiped out years of gains. American science scores have fallen since 2015, although the latest drops from 2019 weren’t statistically significant.The results come as President-elect Donald Trump has criticized America’s education system and pledged to abolish the federal Education Department. Wednesday’s release did come with a slice of good news, though: U.S. students still score above international averages, which include countries with a range of economic levels.Some other countries’ scores also declined since before the pandemic, but U.S. rankings slid comparatively on some measures, falling to 24 out of 45 education systems in eighth-grade math and 15 out of 63 in fourth-grade science.Countries whose performance moved ahead of the U.S. included Finland in math, England in science, and Poland for both subjects in fourth grade.High-scoring countries included Singapore, Japan and England. Officials say it is difficult to determine why some places excel and others struggle. The quality of a country’s schools, as well as other factors like poverty, can influence test performance. Carr said some countries use curriculum that is more closely aligned with the TIMSS exams.Even as U.S. schools have long since returned to normal from Covid-19 closures, educators struggled with new challenges. More teachers have left the profession. Student misbehavior and absenteeism jumped. “Coming out of Covid, parents and students got comfortable with the idea that it’s OK to stay home,” said Suzan Harris, a middle-school principal in Butts County, Ga. Chronic absenteeism rates have improved recently, but remain elevated compared with prepandemic figures, according to an American Enterprise Institute compilation of state data.In the years before the pandemic, national exams showed that school achievement was already stagnating or declining.

▲  95 replies

 @ISIDEWITH submitted…1yr1Y

Biden bans new offshore oil drilling along most of US coastline

President Joe Biden announced a ban on new offshore oil and gas drilling along most of the US coastline on Monday in a move designed to bolster his environmental and climate legacy as he prepares to leave office.The order will protect 625mn acres of ocean on the US east coast, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific coasts of Washington, Oregon and California, as well as portions of the Northern Bering Sea in Alaska, the White House said on Monday.“My decision reflects what the coastal communities, business and beachgoers have known for a long time: that drilling off these coasts could cause irreversible damage to places we hold dear and is unnecessary to meet our nation’s energy needs,” Biden said.The executive action will not prevent oil and gas companies obtaining leases in the central and western parts of the Gulf of Mexico, areas that produce almost 15 per cent of the nation’s oil supplies. Nevertheless, the move is expected to complicate the policy agenda of incoming president Donald Trump, who has vowed to “drill, baby, drill” and boost US oil production, even though it is already at a record level.The Trump transition team said it was a disgraceful decision designed to exact “political revenge on the American people” and the incoming president said he would immediately “unban” Biden’s prohibition on new offshore drilling.“I have the right to unban it immediately . . . we can’t let that happen to our country. It’s our greatest, it’s really our greatest economic asset,” Trump told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt in an interview on Monday.Biden’s action will probably be challenged by the oil industry in court and face pushback from Republicans in Congress. But overturning the order could prove challenging and may require an act of Congress, according to legal experts.Biden is using his authority under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, to protect the areas from drilling — the same mechanism which former president Barack Obama used previously to ban offshore drilling in some Arctic and Atlantic waters in 2016.In 2019, a federal judge ruled that an executive order by former president Donald Trump that lifted an Obama-era ban on oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean was unlawful.

▲  1910 replies