Brewed Fresh Daily

From the Christian Science Monitor:

"Since 9/11 there has been a great fear amongst new immigrants at all levels, but particularly about issues that are important to them," says Gouri Sadhwani, executive director of the New York Civic Participation Project. "In a very practical way, allowing them to vote will connect them with the long history of new immigrants in this country and give them the opportunity to participate in the most fundamental way in our democracy." But to opponents - which includes this city's mayor - enfranchising immigrants will only dilute the nation's democracy. They think of it as the equivalent of two people living together without making the formal commitment of marriage with all of the responsibilities it entails. "There have been an awful lot of people over the years that have fought and died for the right to vote," the mayor, Michael Bloomberg, said at a press conference earlier this month. "If you want to have full rights, and voting is a very big part of full rights, become a citizen."

Ok. Since when is a formal commitment of marriage any guarantee that someone is going to act repsponsibly? There's plenty of people who make the formal commitment of marriage, then act in an irresponsible way, just like there's many people who become citizens, then don't participate in democracy (n. a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections). Perhaps a better question is, What is a citizen (n. an inhabitant of a city or town; especially : one entitled to the rights and privileges of a freeman)?