The US is a democratic nation, but the people often disagree with their state or national government, so what exactly is wrong with American Democracy?
Taxation without representation
The US has a significant number of green-card holders (According to Wikipedia about ~14M in 2019) plus a considerable number of H1B workers.
All pay taxes and are affected by US laws and abide by them.
Over-representation of the wealthy
Not only that a considerable number of people on whom taxation without representation is practiced, but in America, the wealthy are often over-represented and under-taxed.
If you’re rich you can use a number of tax loopholes (with an army of skilled accountants and lawyers) to dodge taxes.
You can also donate to causes of your own choice that are not necessarily what voters consider their priority and use this to write off taxes.
Seems like a great way to do the opposite of what democracy deems important if you control the majority of the wealth.
Add political donations to that and you get a lot more power, influence voters, and pass your personal agendas and views more effectively.
Why not leave then?
I don’t get this often as most of my friends agree with my view on this matter, but sometimes people say “Why not leave then?”
Another interesting phrasing of the question is “If you hate the country this much, why don’t you go somewhere else?”
The point is, I don’t hate this country, on the contrary, I love this country.
My love for the US is exactly why I want to be able to vote and be part of the decision-making.
And my love for the people is exactly why I want to stand to the over-power of select individuals.
It doesn’t rain citizenships
But we are not just gonna hand out citizenships to everyone, this is just a silly hippie idea, right?
Maybe I would argue that we need to get passed the idea of citizenship and consider Earth a big country for humans to live in peace.
But until we can even discuss this very big level of unitedness and tolerance, I’m not necessarily saying that everyone should be granted citizenship.
I’m saying everyone lives in a place for a while and is likely to exist there for a while longer, and paying taxes, should be represented and considered when passing laws.
It’s quite silly that if you are born in the US, lived your whole life in another country, then came back to stay for a few years, you’re allowed to vote.
While a person who is been living and working here for 20 years but didn’t become a citizen yet can’t vote.