This may appear as an odd question to stubborn and naive believers in the self-proclaimed status of the U.S. as main exporter of democracy, endlessly repeated by the Western mass-media. Fact is, more than 4 millions U.S. citizens are not entitled to vote, neither for the president, nor for a senator or representative in the U.S. Congress:
U.S. Commonwealth Territories | Population |
Northern Mariana Islands | 77 000 (2004) |
Puerto Rico | 3 941 459 (2007) |
U.S. Virgin Islands | 113 200 (2004) |
American Samoa | 65 000 (2005) |
Guam | 168 564 (2005) |
TOTAL | 4 365 223 |
Puerto Rico has more inhabitants than almost half of the single 50 states and its residents pay practically all federal taxes (directly or indirectly). Nevertheless, since it is no U.S. state and only residents of a state are entitled to participate in elections, we may conclude that the U.S. conception of democracy does not even fulfill the most basic formal requirement.
--> Voting Rights in Puerto Rico
2 comments:
how do you know that? any proof?
Sorry! Base2014 added the following links: "Voting Rights in Puerto Rico" and "data taken from Fischer Welt Almanach 2010". Thanks for the comment!
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