[forum] A Call For Open Governance Of X Development

[José Fonseca]

On Sat, Mar 22, 2003 at 05:35:10PM -0500, Mark Vojkovich wrote:
>    I think Daniel's example would be better if Americans were
> demanding the right to chose the Prime Minister of France.
> While the Americans have a "vested interest" in who the
> French prime minister is, they shouldn't have a say in it.
> I think this is the difference, as David Wexelblat put it,
> between a democracy and a republic.  Not every body gets
> to vote.  This isn't a free-for-all.  The prime minister 
> of France isn't elected for the good of the world community.
> He is elected by eligible French citizens for the good of France.

The problem is that Americans who want to immigrate to France _really_
have difficulty in establishing there. Of course that when somebody
immigrates it expects rough times, but even after several months of
dedicated and hard working on France (many times on low-wage jobs in
civil construction - effectively helping building the country!) many
Americans are still in an illegal situation - they aren't recognized by
the French government. The fact that they can't vote is the less of
their worries as they even can't get a piece of land and build a home
there. Needless to say that many Americans are not willing to live in
such conditions (no matter how much they love France) so eventually
return to America or try to achieve their American dream elsewhere.

Changing French republic into a democracy (or whatever) so that all
Americans are represented may not be the most appropriate course of
action here, but surely that there is a problem with France immigration
policy... 

José Fonseca