I threw this up on the Flophouse the other day. I went through the fine wizard at the Overseas Vote Foundation and ordered my absentee ballot and a few days ago I got my voter registration card from King County Elections. That done I now need to think about how I’m going to vote. My first order of business was really trying to understand where homeland voters are coming from. Laws in the homeland are not made in a vacuum. Second order of business was going to the websites of my representatives and seeing what they had to say. It was quite a shock to realize that overseas voters are not even on their radar – even in a state that has a lot of registered overseas voters. I was left with the feeling that I’m in a terrible trap here. OK, I have a vote but I don’t feel like I have a voice or effective representation. Really frustrating. Anyway, here is what I wrote. Your mileage may vary. I’m sure there are a few things in here that some of you will disagree with. Please feel free to comment or criticize. I don’t have a lot invested in being right – on the contrary it’s when you’re wrong that you actually learn something. 🙂
To understand why the United States is trying so hard to chase down overseas Americans for taxes one need only look at this graph prepared by Senator Jeff Sessions’ staff and reprinted in the Weekly Standard.
Rather frightening, isn’t it? Yes, America’s per capita government debt is worse than Greece. This means that , while all of the countries on the chart are desperate for revenue, the U.S. leads the pack.
The political process is the means by which such problems are faced and managed. Or not, as the case may be. Living outside the U.S. I’m at a disadvantage here when it comes to homeland politics since I am only getting an echo of the political debates going on right now over what to do about the American national debt. To those who argue that I could be perfectly well-informed if I would just regularly read the American newspapers, I would counter that it is not nearly enough. I read these articles in a vacuum. If I were living in the U.S. I imagine that this topic would be something I would discuss with friends, family and colleagues who would give me their points of view and share resources where we could all get more information. I’d be reading the daily local paper to know what my Senators and Representatives were up to. I’d be listening to the radio on the ride into work. I’d have a much better idea how my fellow Americans feel about what is going on around them and how it impacts them because I’d be swimming in the same waters. Since I don’t have any of that here, I read the articles in the American media almost as if I were a foreigner. It really does seem that distant.
But here’s the thing: I vote. The very efficient folks at King County Election will be sending a ballot this year to my address in France. I even have a voter registration card that I received a few days ago with my French address and U.S. contact information if I have any questions or a problem (partially written in Kanji by the way). And though King County seems to be in the know, I was a bit surprised to realize that neither of my senators, Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell seem to be aware of their constituents from the Pacific Northwest who are living outside the U.S. (yes, they exist and I’ve met some of them in both Japan and France). When I go to the “Contact me” section of their sites, the only overseas constituents they seem to recognize are American military personnel abroad. I suppose I could pretend I still live in the state of Washington but that seems dishonest. Quite a conundrum, isn’t it? I did sign up for both their newsletters and was quite amused that Patty Murray’s form asked for an address but had no provision (unless I was military) for a foreign address. I finally just put in my French address and selected “Washington State.” We’ll see if her staff notices.
And yet, Washington state is, according to the book Leaving America, an important overseas voter state (along with Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio) with over 200,000 overseas voters in each of those states registered to vote locally. In a close election, politicians in these states could quite conceivably win or lose based on how overseas Americans decide to vote in 2012. And, to be quite frank with you, with the MOVE act which makes it much easier for overseas citizens to vote, the range of issues on the table today that have got us a bit riled up (citizenship-based taxation, FATCA and the like) and the existence of non-profit organizations like the Overseas Vote Foundation which has an on-line platform that makes it very easy for us to register, it’s quite likely that more and more of us will choose to exercise our right to vote in the U.S. in 2012. This means that homeland voters and politicians in some states might just get a nasty surprise in November.
My purpose here is not to threaten people or our elected representatives in the homeland. Rather what I would like to propose is a deal that would make this situation work a little better to everyone’s benefit. On my side, I am painfully aware that I am not as aware of homeland issues as I could be and I promise to make a special effort during the ramp-up to the 2012 election to get as much information as I can to be able to vote responsibly. On the homeland side what I would like to see are people and politicians meeting us halfway. A good start would be to stop vilifying overseas Americans in the media. Every article or comment we read that labels us “disloyal” and “tax evaders,” for example, just makes us paranoid and turns us into single-issue voters (just vote against anyone who supports FATCA. :-). A second step would be an acknowledgement that we exist and it might be worth everyone’s time to improve the dialogue with the 6 million Americans (civilians) outside the U.S. We are the “domestic abroad” and maybe we have something to bring to the debates going on inside the U.S. if people would suspend judgement and just listen for a moment or two.
The United States is facing some serious challenges right now. Going back to the graph at the beginning of this post, this is a very serious situation. It is not unreasonable, in my view, that all Americans be part of the solution. To be very clear (and here I diverge from the views of some other overseas Americans) I am not even against the idea of contributing financially to the resolution of homeland problems.
But, if that is what the homeland is asking of me, then I need to feel that I am a part of the nation regardless of where I live – that I have, not just a vote and representation, but effective representation, where my views and my interests are taken into account. And I will be honest with you, I don’t feel that at all. This really is THE issue for me. It’s not taxes. Taxes are the price of civilization. But if you want me to support American civilization (the nation) then I need you to acknowledge that I and 6 million other people are still a part of it.
If this isn’t possible, if no one wants to go to the effort, if all homeland Americans want to do is punish all 6 million of us for the “sin” of living abroad by double-taxing us to extinction while making it difficult for us to have a voice, then our U.S. citizenship is worth very little. If you add to that a certain rejection on the part of the nation then, rationally, this is a citizen/state relationship which does neither of us any good. You don’t need us yelling at you from across the oceans, surprising you when we actually dare vote and tip local elections, and hurting U.S. interests in our host countries. On our side we don’t need you pretending we don’t exist and yet passing laws that impact us behind our backs and then ignoring us completely when we protest.
So what will it be, folks? Do we try to work this out or do we give up on the basis of “irreconciliable differences” and negotiate an amicable divorce on terms we can all live with?
@Victoria
EXCELLENT write up!!!!!
Did you forward this to Mr Obama and the republican candidates? 🙂
Thank you for this post!
While I certainly do applaud your ideals and noble approach, I do not have the time to see this through nor can I risk my family’s financial future on the possibility of changes in US law. I have already filed for divorce.
@Uncle Tell – Thank you. I’m still a little bummed out because I had laboriously written out letters to send to all these folks, I now understand that this was the WRONG thing do. Apparently mail sent to all of those folks takes months to get through because they have to be checked for dangerous material (I guess anthrax but it might be fresh ideas too. Lord knows, either of these just might kill the folks in Washington 🙂
@Bruce – I understand your position completely. I’m leaning in that direction myself. But I’ll still try to do what I can before the day when I really do have to choose.
Follow-up here. The stats on which states have lots of overseas voter got me thinking. By any chance are one of the two Washington senators up for re-election in 2012? I found this list. Lots of Dems. http://libertyslifeline.com/2010/11/04/next-up-the-senate-class-of-2012/ Bingo. Maria Cantwell from the State of Washington.
So out of curiosity how did Ms. Cantwell vote when the Hire Act was passed? (That was the bill that had FATCA slipped into it, right?) I looked here http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h2847/votes and discovered that she voted “aye.” How interesting.
Final step was looking to see if I could stand her opponent. This guy, Michael Baumgartner: http://votebaumgartner.com/
and I read this:
“When Michael was 12 years old, his father took a year of sabbatical leave from WSU and the family spent much of the year in western & eastern Europe and Japan, sparking a strong interest in foreign countries and diverse cultures. By the age of 35, Michael had visited more than 70 countries.”
AND he is married to a Brit.
I think Mr. Baumgartner is about to get a campaign contribution from me. Imagine that 🙂
Victoria, Excellent post. Thank you so much for contributing.
I think that it is wrong to confuse franchise with representation. One may vote without having representation. I don’t think that overseas voters amount to anything when there is widespread voter fraud in the United States. The democracy there is broken, and from my vantage point, there is nothing that we overseas Americans can do about it except renounce and ask for the protection of our home countries.
Democracy is broken in America. That’s what that chart means. More debt per capita than Greece. But that is only federal debt. Most states have too much debt, many municipalities have to much debt, as do many businesses and most individuals. This over-leveraged society is going to come crashing down soon, and they will be going after us to try to stop the gaps.
Prepare for war folks. That’s what history tells us. When the most militarized nation in the world begins to suffer financially, war is around the corner. It happens over and over again.
Some Americans, particularly democrats, equate taxes with patriotism, and that’s why they want us Americans abroad to prove that we are still patriotic. But I say that protecting my family here in Canada is more important than patriotism to a country that now only knows how to abuse me, threaten me with prison and fines of up to 300% of wealth, and never listened to me in the first place. Now that country is about to implode with debt.
CAn you imagine if the Americans Living Abroad decide to vote? They will vote in the last State they resided. Also I believe all should support ACA http://www.aca.ch
@Mark – Oh yes! I had a look at the ACA proposition for eliminating citizenship-based taxation. Really great work.
Just for info – the list I have (From Leaving America) of states with over 200,000 registered overseas voters (Washington, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio) all appear to have senators up for re-election in 2012:
Maria Cantwell, Washington
Robert Casey, Jr., Pennsylvania
Sherrod Brown, Ohio
Bill Nelson, Florida
Debbie Stabenow, Michigan.
Has to be something we can do with that info. 🙂
What is the point in voting in a state where you no longer live and have no intention of returning?
The perverse pleasure of deep-sixing one of the idiots who voted for FATCA 🙂
@victoria- just because one is an overseas voter doesn’t mean that one has cut all of his/her ties with the homeland. I am sure that many of the overseas voters are temporarily away from America and still have some real physical ties with the community.
Also while you may feel that we should contribute to fixing the problems in the U.S. you neglect the most important point which is that are absence did not contribute to the creation of the problems. It is the people who voted for the clowns who are in office who should bear the burden of cleaning up the mess. You need to also realize that our absence actuallly contributed to not making the problems worse.
In the almoost 27 years that I have been absent from the U.S. I have not cost the American government one singel dime in citizen services. It is an integral part of the pact that a government has with its citizens that the citizen pays taxes and the government in exchange provides services. Now if the government cannot collect enough taxes to provide those services then the government must raise taxes on those who use the services. But even in America over half of those who submit tax forms do not pay any taxes. And if you have been following the Primaries you notice that all of the candidates are using mathematical equations that don’t work but form the basis of lowering U.S. taxes.
You also cannot ignore the fact that when it comes to dealing with the Congressional representatives that there is no way for overseas voters to be heard, unless they have a U.S. address.
What it comes down to is whether or not you are content to live as a second class citizen where you live now and as a second class American citizen living abroad. If you stay American you lose and the reason that you lose is because of your U.S. citizenship. America is harming you each and every day of your life and it will suck out your soul. Six million people will not tip an election when they can’t vote as a Congressional seat. Without a Congressional seat all absentee votes are by definition LOCAL votes.
A noble cause indeed.
I took the shortcut and deep-sixed my US citizenship.
Good luck!
@Victoria
In my mind ACA or a similar needs to become much more bare knuckled and start opposing particular reps and Senators that are hostile to expats interest.
Unfortunately mobilizing expat voters is extremely unlikely to have any effect. The Democrats among us couldn’t bring themselves to got Republican and vice versa. There wouldn’t be enough swing voters to make a difference.
@Tim- I started looking into this because I have a family member who worked in politics in his state for a number of years. Got some good advice. It’s a rough business – fairness has very little to do with whether or not a cause is taken up or not. I don’t know how ACA lobbies (or AARO or Dems/Repubs Abroad) or what their strategies are. Kinda of a mystery to me. Can anyone enlighten us?
Now this was a hot find. I was uneasy about the Leaving America numbers so I tried to find another source and came up with this, The United States Election Project. http://elections.gmu.edu/Turnout_2008G.html
I think these are numbers for 2008 and they represent either actual turnout or those who were registered. Overseas voters are clearly counted. Some of the numbers are just amazing. Look at Florida, for example which has 452,000 overseas voters? Texas in the same range with 459,000? Tennessee at 128,000? Even little Missouri has 97,000. OK, I’ll admit that we are far from being majorities in these states but these numbers aren’t small either. I wonder what they look like now? A lot of people left the US during the Recession (2009-2010), there was the MOVE act in 2010 and now we are coming up on a presidential race. And, let’s not forget that we all have a few issues on the table that we are bit annoyed about…..
The only vote we can make that might catch the attention of the homeland is to vote with our feet. If annual relinquishment and renunciation numbers in the Federal Register were in the hundreds of thousands instead of a paltry couple of thousand then I think even the useless American MSM might start to take note.
Only other way I can think of to shorten this cycle is for one of us to volunteer for self-immolation on the steps of Capitol Hill. Any takers?
@Deckard1138 – no but you may be on the right track. Here’s one idea I had, why don’t we organize demonstrations in front of the US Embassies and Consulates in our host countries? It would be guaranteed to get the attention of the local media. I’m sure journalists would be thrilled to hear the story. If we get enough local coverage in different countries all at the same time I’m sure that the large media outlets in the US would pick it up. We could use it as an opportunity to educate people who are going in for Green Cards. Just think of how that would play out. Might even be kinda fun. And there is nothing illegal about demonstrating. People do it all the time in front of US embassies. Right?
I remember when a US border official insisted to me in 2004 that I was still a US citizen. I insisted I wasn’t–but I decided to look into whether I could vote (in an attempt to rid the world of George Bush). I called Democrats Abroad. The person I spoke with asked my home state. When I replied Pennsylvania, he said “Pennsylvania?! Pennsylvania is a swing riding! Get with the program. Get registered.”
Fortunately, I didn’t fall for the trap. I concluded “No, I’m not an American citizen, haven’t been for 30 years (at that time), so why would I vote.”
Am I ever glad now that I made that decision!
Victoria, as USA’s neigbour, Canadians are inundated with American news, both from American and Canadian news outlets. Their voting issues seem as bizarre to Canadians as they do to you in Europe. Their war in Afghanistan is now the longest in US history (they surpassed Vietnam almost two years ago for length) with no end in sight, it looks like Syria and/or Iran may be next, the economy is down the sewer, people are losing their homes, there is massive unemployment, the country is trillions of dollars in debt, etc.
Yet, one candidate is talking about letting states ban contraceptives and another runs ads attacking an opponent for introducing himself in French at the Olympics. Rick Santorum, who wants to ban contraceptives, is from my home state. Growing up in Pennsylvania and visiting regularly, I have never heard one single Pennsylvanian–of any faith–say a word about banning contraceptives–until Santorum.
Despite the immense amount of American news we get in Canada, whenever I visit in an election year (and every year seems to be an election year!), I feel like an alien for another planet. Message to IRS: That’s exactly what I am–Don’t try to tell me differently!
@Victoria, This is what I have thought about for months and wondered why no one had mentioned it. I am with you all the way.. maybe we could ask non US Citizens to join in and pretend they are US Citizen just to get masses of people. It would be wonderful if we could get thousands and thousands of people.
Maybe we can have a hunger strike, hey summer is coming a good way to lose a few pounds..
I vote for Petros to be the leader of the pack.
This comes to mind!!
And here we go!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLvGnro4Cgw
Voters here are interested in concrete issues that affect them, such as the economy, jobs, schools, health, sovereignty, etc., and leave the personal stuff to the individual person. So, the US pols come across rather “kooky” with their big emphasis on religion, gay marriage, contraception, etc. and doubly so when the economy is so critical.
It used to be said that the average Canadidan Conservative Party member would be a Democrat in the US — now, in the 21st century, the average Canadian Conservative would be considered a left wing socialist there. (Someone else pointed that out yesterday about Prime Minsiter Harper.) I agree, and I’m a Canadian Conservative.
I think US and Canada were more similar decades ago. But Canada, Europe, UK, Australia, NZ, have more or less moved on in one direction, and the US has moved on in its own direction. It seems quite strange.
I always figured it was their own business, but now they seem to want to drag me into it. I can’t relate to it at all.
@Pacifica: I was the one who posted those comments about the PM yesterday.
You’re right–Canadians aren’t interested if a leader is having oral sex with an intern. It certainly isn’t grounds for impeachment.
We just want our politicians to get to work and do their jobs. They don’t always do a great job, but the focus is usually on the issues, not their personal lives. The big exception was when the former Minister of Foreign Affairs left his briefs (actually confidential NATO briefing notes) in the apartment of his girlfriend, who somehow had ties to the Hell’s Angels. Even then, when the personal relationship was revealed, it was because of the security issue. He resigned (or was fired), but is now back in Cabinet in another capacity.
Now, that should be a message to the rest of the world that Canadians are not as boring as everyone thinks we are.
@Blaze, we are boring. When was the last time a Canadian politician had oral sex with an intern? Ahhh NEVER!
This whole ordeal brings to mind the Serenity Prayer which goes something like this:
“GOD, grant me the SERENITY OF MIND to
ACCEPT that which cannot be changed,
HAVE COURAGE to change that which can be changed and,
THE WISDOM to know the difference between the two.”
The Serenity Prayer helped me in reaching the conclusion that although trying to change the injustice of citizenship-based-taxation is certainly a noble and worthwhile cause; the reality is that such an endeavor is completely outside an individual’s ability to control or influence.
Realizing this, I decided to change what I knew was possible, which was my citizenship.
I applaud and highly support the efforts of ACA.
However, in my humble opinion, RENUNCIATION or RELINQUISHMENT of US CITIZENSHIP is the only realistic way for an individual to end the misery of being ruled by “Barry and the Tyrants” from thousands of miles away.
A change in policy will only come into being once the number of renunciations reaches a critical mass and becomes too embarrassing for politicians and diplomats to justify to the public.
Until then, the ostracization and persecution of American expats will continue.
@omg: How do you know that?!? I suspect some are up to much more than we know.
Although the media didn’t publish the details, VikiLeaks on Twitter last week revealed pretty racy details about one particular Cabinet Minister’s divorce and his relationship with a younger woman (or maybe women). I won’t report details here, but suffice it to say, this family values man has definitely not led a boring life of fidelity and monogamy. He really does like family though. He started a new one with a new baby while still married to his wife of over 30 years. I also won’t say which Cabinet Minister, but do the words “stand with us or stand with the child pornographers” and a claim to not understanding what was in the web surveillance bill before he introduced it in Parliament sound familiar?
The point is, for the most part, the discussion remained on the problems of the proposed bill and not on the details of the Minister’s personal life. The details of his divorce were leaked via Twitter to point out the importance of maintaining privacy.
So, I’ll say again, Canadians are not as boring as we may seem (and most of us don’t hunt or fish. Many of us have never seen a moose. We don’t ski in July. Some–like me, don’t even like hockey. I better not say that publicly-it could be cause for revocation of my Canadian citizenship–Then where would be?!?)
If Steven is reading this, I’m sure he’s getting quite a chuckle out of knowing moral, intelligent Canadian lawyers turned-politicians are not perfect.
This is how I learned to write, from Amnesty Intl.
Make it as formal as you can. Write in as professional a capacity as possible, on your company letterhead.
Address as respectfully as you can.
“Dear Senator/Congressman”
Keep it short and to the point.
ACA help US exports, as well as represent US interests abroad.
Due to FATCA, foreign banks are refusing to open accounts for American Citizens like myself, for fear of being penalized or fined by the US Govt.
This is impacting my ability to do business abroad, while representing an American business.
Furthermore, I am being discriminated against for being an American: the finance responsibility in my company has been taken away from me, simply for being an American, with whom the banks will not deal with, due to FATCA.
Please repeal FATCA. It is harming Americans like myself, and American business.
Although I live abroad, my family and friends live in the US and they are aware of my hardship.
Sincerely yours,
….
@Blaze
Another Pennsylvanian! I was born in Lancaster but only lived in the state for a couple of years, but most of my relatives lived or still live there.
Rick Santorum is an abomination and an embarrasment to all Pennsylvanians – in fact, he might just be the Antichrist everyone’s been waiting for. Not a Christian bone in his body.