Luxembourg is allowing non-citizens to vote

[conuly]

And lowering the voting age to 16. Go Luxembourg!

Of course, you see that stoplight in the picture? Yeah, that's their only stoplight. Blink and you'll miss it, that's Luxembourg. How they support three languages on just under 1000 square miles, I don't understand. (Three official languages, that is!)

Comments

[conuly]

Whatever happened to no taxation without representation?

I didn't know you said that over there!

[eofs.livejournal.com]

Well who did you think you were shouting it at? ;0)

But seriously, I say it as a very conscious Americanism. It's a phrase which is specifically associated with the American Revolution - and might not even be widely known, I'm not a good judge of what's an ordinary level of general knowledge. Even without it being a particularly British phrase though, I still think the idea behind it is sound - if you're living in a country, paying thousands of pounds of tax in a country (remember that our higher rate of tax, kicking in around £37k pa, is 40%) then you should have a say in how that country is run. Meanwhile you can still vote in your 'home' country (which you might not have ever lived in!) even though you likely aren't paying any tax there. I think within the EU it ought to be possible to work out a way to gain voting rights without having to take citizenship.