Originally Posted by
Yngvi
From what I understand, this is not the whole story; foreigners are currently allowed to vote in local elections if they are from the same region (the EU block).
How much difference is there between an Italian or a Belgian and a Frenchman? Probably enough that you don't want the foreigner becoming president of France, but not so much his political inclinations will break the nation and enslave the French people.
On the other hand, how much difference is there between 2 Arabs, plus an African and a Frenchman?
I don't know any native Frenchman who wants to be governed according to sharia law or forced by democratic vote to pay reparations and financial tribute to Africans.
For the French people, this is a matter of survival; if foreigners are allowed to vote, France dies.
A man from whose grandfather is from Tennessee is not that much different from a Texan, although Texans may not want him to be governor of Texas.
On the other hand, a carpet-bagger yankee from a family with strong historical ties to New England is not a Texan in any way and his children will not be Texans, no matter how hard they try... even if the child's father was President of the United States and he plays a Texan accent.
It is currently fashionable to skirt the Truth if it could possibly be shouted down as racist, however the fact of the matter is there is also a very large component of ethnicity involved in this; biology determines phenotype, tastes, personality, preferences and downstream political as well as societal values.
I pray to the gods I am never forced by democracy to be subject to the genetically-determined tastes of a lactose intolerant people. (Already happening in the US, unfortunately; milk alternatives are steadily replacing high-quality milk.)
We have a famous saying in America: "No taxation without representation"
This did not apply at the individual level; only at the regional/national level.
In our new nation, founded in liberty, most people were not eligible to vote; our founding fathers were sensible, pragmatic men.