Or is it here already?
New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito has long refused to pledge even ceremonial allegiance to the American flag. No surprise, then, that she displays no respect for American citizenship, either.Mark-Viverito wants to grant voting rights to non-citizens — including, perhaps, illegal immigrants — in all municipal elections....
“I believe that in a democracy, everybody should participate, and I don’t see how you call something a democracy when you don’t give everybody that opportunity to participate,” said Queens Councilman Daniel Dromm, Mark-Viverito’s point-person for non-citizen voting.
What do you think, Gentle Reader? Has Miss Mark-Viverito ever read the Constitution of the United States? If she has, do you think she regards herself, a public official, as subordinate to the Constitution’s dictates? It is the Supreme Law of the Land, after all.
It’s highly doubtful that Mark-Viverito grasps the distinction between a democracy, which the United States is not, and a republic, which it is. But then, to expect that degree of comprehension – much less acceptance – from a New York City politico has been unreasonable since John V. Lindsay at least.
How on Earth do such persons attain elected office? Do the voters know that little about them, or do they know but not care?
Immigration without assimilation probably explains most of it. What stands unexplained – and is desperately in need of an explanation – is what’s keeping patriotic New Yorkers from dangling Mark-Viverito’s twitching corpse from a convenient lamppost. A shortage of rope, perhaps? Or is it that Andrew Cuomo must be first?
Fran, you missed. It's not that the voters know so little about these politicians, it's that they know so little about what the rules are supposed to be.
ReplyDeleteIf you want some hilarity in your life (and at times it certainly sounds as if you need that) conduct a survey that asks respondents to identify all ten items on the Bill of Rights – and then ask them in what Article of which document they reside.
It might make sense to let other Americans vote in NYC elections.
ReplyDelete