American founders' slogan abused in Irish voting rights debate
We're having an election. It was supposed to be on March 11, but
the Irish government couldn't even hold on that long and now
election day looks like it will be February 25. Unfortunately
for all those thousands of (mostly young) Irish who have been
forced to leave Ireland and seek work elsewhere, the election
will not include them. They are ineligible to vote.  I was
listening to a news program last week, one that features a
weekly slot with American (right wing) talk show host Michael
Graham. When Graham innocently asked how Ireland's emigrants
would vote in the upcoming election, he was shocked to learn
that they have no vote. Graham noted that America allows its
citizens abroad to vote by mail and that in his town - near
Boston - they recently had a large news item about all the
Brazilians voting there in Brazil's election. How could Ireland
not offer the same to its citizens?  It's true, however. Ireland
is just about the only democracy that