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?
@Decard: I love Lancaster, but grew up in northwestern PA. I’m embarrassed to say I’m from the same state as Santorum.
@Blaze
In terms of divorcee Canadian politcians off the top of my head I know Allison Redford, Rona Ambrose, Danielle Smith, Mike Harris, Ernie Eves, Jack Layton(now deceased) and Christy Clark are all once divorced. Additionally while not a politician herself Laureen Harper was previously married too. In the case of Harris and Eves both engaged in extramarrital affairs.
The one person America really needs but doesn’t have while Canada does is the MAN himself Bill Vander Zalm.
Victoria & saddened123 – With good turnout, worldwide coordinated demonstrations outside US consulates and embassies would be very effective. But to organize even one local demonstration presents large challenges.
Persons who have no experience in public agitation cannot imagine. Established affiliations and trust are very important, and those are emerging at this web site. But this venue is only virtual, and our assembly at a common physical location is not possible.
Compounding ordinary difficulties are the yellow-star factor that ties into this particular issue – the genuine fears of becoming an identified individual, a potential target.
Last month I attended a semi-public (not advertisable generally) session on the situation of extraterritorial US citizens that was attended by about 70 persons. I heard about other people unwilling to show up even for that secluded information event, standing back to get second-hand reporting.
In the past few months I have spoken directly to over half-a-dozen persons who maintain various degrees of invisibility, and indirectly to others by passing along recommendation to the Brocksters.
At a guess, well over 95% of Brock web traffic consists of cautious lurkers who make no comment at all. Most of the commenters and posters here operate with a moniker that offers basic masking. Most of those who do speak up appear to occupy or to anticipate situations of relative security.
Get some demos going, I’ll show up. The authorities as usual count on this not happening. Testimony: the more of this one does, the more the fear dissipates.
@ Victoria, and others; I was just looking for the cached 2008 Obama/Biden Platform page directed entirely at expats, (which I found and am trying to relocate to post). Interestingly, no such equivalent is on the 2012 site. However, along the same vein as the thoughts about whether to participate in the coming US election; see this really interesting article about the 2008 expatriate vote, and its growing importance in numbers (and in $ contributions) in the 2008 race : http://www.economist.com/node/11870194 Aug 9th 2008, from The Economist –
“America’s expatriate voters: Home thoughts from abroad, Could expatriate voters influence America’s presidential election?” ……..”American expatriates may have had only a small impact on the past few elections but they are keenly following this one. So far they have contributed much more money than in previous campaigns. And there are signs that by polling day in November, they may also turn that interest into power at the ballot box.”
“Roughly 6m Americans live abroad. This scattered diaspora, taken as a whole, wields a voting power larger than half of the states in the union……”…”the campaign teams, as well as various pressure groups, have noticed the problems and the potential rewards of winning over Americans abroad. Mr Obama runs a blog for Americans abroad on his campaign website….”
Hey @Victoria and all; I was looking for the cached version of the 2008 campaign website where the Obama/Biden campaign specifically listed ‘Americans Abroad’ as a group he was reaching out to. However, now, ‘Americans abroad’ are no longer listed specifically as a group to be heard, nowhere in evidence on the current 2012 campaign site……and I am wondering why the change?
I found the 2008 campaign pledges, and here are some excerpts particularly relevant to the issues raised here. See from; BARACK OBAMA: SUPPORTING AMERICANS LIVING OVERSEAS obama.3cdn.net/610c7f29ee85b124a3_3cm6bxltu.pdf:
“Obama understands the special concerns and issues of Americans living abroad and
will seek to address these as president…..”
“Strengthen Economic Security for Americans Abroad: Barack Obama believes that the U.S. government should pay close attention to how American citizens are treated in the private sector while they live and work abroad. Our government must work to ensure that overseas Americans have every chance to compete on a level playing field, and he will work with Americans abroad to identify and understand problems they may face as a result of U.S. government policies…..”
“Voting Procedures: Obama supports vigorous efforts to ensure that American citizens abroad have the ability to exercise their voting rights. He supports efforts like “VoteFromAbroad.org” that seek to make the overseas voting process more transparent and accessible for Americans abroad. Obama supports the Overseas Vote Act, the Overseas Voting Practical Amendments Act of 2007, and full funding to implement the Help America Vote Act.”
“Census of Americans Abroad: The U.S. Census currently does not count American citizens living outside the U.S. Obama supports efforts to find an efficient and accurate procedure to count Americans living abroad in the U.S. Census.”
“Concerns of Americans Living Abroad: Obama believes it is important to understand the role of Americans abroad in determining U.S. policy. Obama will work with members of the Americans abroad community and the U.S. embassies to determine how the U.S. government can be responsive to the concerns of overseas Americans. As a U.S. Senator, Obama has taken seriously the concerns of all Illinoisans, whether they are currently in Illinois or not. As president, Obama will work to establish a direct dialogue with Americans abroad.”
“Other Governmental Services and Benefits: Americans living abroad have little access to basic information about U.S. government services and affairs. Barack Obama believes that U.S. embassies and consulates, which are the main U.S. government contact points for Americans abroad, should develop and implement concrete plans on how to communicate basic information to Americans living abroad.”
“Additionally, Obama supports efforts to ensure that U.S. State Department staff members have proper training to assist Americans abroad in determining their various rights and responsibilities as American citizens. He welcomes a continued dialogue between the White House, the State Department, and citizens abroad in an Obama administration.”
Michael Baumgartner is a GOP candidate???
I thought it was considered “un-American” to have any international experience or interest in foreign countries, especially in the right wing of American politics. I bet that the only acceptable foreign spouses can be Candian or British…A French one would probably get you barred fromt their ticket 😛
As to the post itself…Well, I would feel foolish voting in a US election since I view that as me being a foreigner trying to influence a foreign election. I am personally not too concerned about voting in my country of citizenship whilst not resident. I would prefer the reverse to be the norm: the right to vote in your country of residence even if not a citizen, since that is where your taxes are going to and where policies affecting your life are being decided (true in most countries except the US due to residential taxation!). The EU has almost implemented this fully: as an EU citizen in Germany I had the right to vote in European and local (town council) elections. I think it would be brilliant to expand this eventually towards national elections, since that is really the only thing that an EU citizen resident in another EU country can’t do.
There are worse situations though than both of the above: I know that some countries restrict your right to vote after a long residency abroad like the UK example (10 or 15 years, can’t remember). So in this case if you were a UK citizen resident in the US you wouldn’t be able to vote anywhere!
As an aside, I just realised that I never really knew what “GOP” meant and looked it up. Is “Grand Old Party” a joke or is that the real deal?
It’s indeed the real deal, Don.
@saddened123 – usxcanada is right. There are still a lot of people living in hope that this will all be resolved without their having to “come out of the closet.” But to the extent that FATCA gets closer and closer, I think hope is fading. I think it’s really a question of timing and opportunity. I’d like to try. However, I think we need to take the organization of such an event off this forum and take it to email or some other method like Skype. I admit that neither is entirely secure but still better than talking it about it openly here.
@Don – Good point but here we are once again talking about important regional differences. The Pacific Northwest has a reputation for being (depending on where you sit) either a hot bed of Socialism or a pretty open cosmopolitan kind of place. Local culture in Seattle is a weird combo of Asian, Scandinavian, Native American influences which makes it feel a lot more like Vancouver, B.C. than Dallas. The region has grown primarily through migration from both inside and outside of the U.S. When I was growing up I was something of an oddity because I was actually born in Seattle as were my parents. Most of my classmates weren’t. That said (and I’m saying this as a native) we were taught to be smug about it and feel superior to people from the East Coast, the South or (the worst place in the world) California. 🙂 So, no, Baumgartner’s CV is not a problem – even for the folks in the central or eastern part of the state who tend to be pretty conservative.
@donpomodoro- it is the real deal
@brockthebadger- I guess that FATCA is his effort to fulfill at least one promise, that of giving an accurate count of overseas Americans.
@brockthebadger- I didn’t notice any mention of double taxation in this list. Most of it seems to focus better P.R. efforts and none of it really will cost the government any additional money. So basically it is all lip service and nothing more.
If the President wanted to do something of substance for overseas Americans he could have done so by adopting the Simpsons/Bowles proposal for cutting the national debt. It was in this proposal that the recommendation for America to adopt a territorial tax system- which I hope was meant for individuals as well as coroporations- was made but President Obama ignored the whole thing.
@Brock the Badger – Great research! I checked it out and who we do seem to have vanished from his radar. I heard something similar from another source that said that his people don’t seem terribly interested in chasing our votes this year.
I also found this. A statement by Republicans Abroad Europe http://www.republicansabroadeurope.org/expat_taxes
They also have a Repeal FATCA petition and a FATCA blog.
To be fair I went and checked to see what the Democrat Abroad folks had. They seem to be offering information seminars about it and that’s about it. If you think that is an unfair characterization, please give me your take on it.
I’m going to give it a couple of days and if I don’t have different information I will send another letter to Democrats Abroad resigning (will make it stick this time) and I will sign up and send money to the Republicans Abroad. Of course my mother will never speak to me again…. 🙂
thanks @Victoria; I’ll keep looking, and will check out whatever I can find from the opposition as well – in the end, it will be difficult for me to balance this issue against some others in the mix that I find very urgent as well – a proverbial Gordian knot?
“Politics makes strange bedfellows.”
Political interests can bring together people who otherwise have little in common. This saying is adapted from a line in the play The Tempest, by William Shakespeare: “Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.” It is spoken by a man who has been shipwrecked and finds himself seeking shelter beside a sleeping monster.
@Brock the Badger – I hear you. I think a lot of things changed for me when I tried on the idea of giving up my US citizenship for size and found that it was doable. OK, this is what I’ll do if the political process just can’t work for expats. Once I got past all that emotion I started looking at the US election with a much colder eye. It just isn’t in my interest to vote the way I used to vote and may in fact be a form of self-immolation since I’m pretty sure that the current admin is just going to get much worse concerning expats if they win. Could I vote for the other side? Sure. Romney is fine – he is even getting some good press in Europe (let’s face it he looks darn good when you compare him to the other Republican candidates).
I think I’m also influenced by the waters I swim in. The French are very practical about politics. There was one election where a whole bunch of people voted for the Front National (extreme right). Now do you really think they wanted a Fascist for president? No, they knew Le Pen couldn’t win – the vote was meant to send a message to the established candidates. Be afraid because we are not happy. It was very effective. And today the Front National is taken very seriously even if people don’t care much for them. Am I capable of doing something like that? Using my vote that way? You bet.
Oh and I found this and thought it was interesting. Pew says that Americans are not really loyal to parties any more. Even the military which used to consistently vote Republican is more independent:
http://www.people-press.org/2011/05/04/beyond-red-vs-blue-the-political-typology/
@Victoria, perhaps we could appeal to Democrats and Republicans Abroad (in Canada, France, etc.) through this website, to respond and help us with our dilemma? There may be readers here that are active in chapters here in Canada particularly – being just next door….
@ recalcitrant: re: FATCA as a pseudo-census of us abroad – the ‘silver lining’ in the big gray clouds? The OVDI/OVDP figures are mis-used that way already, plus those often quoted and unsubstantiated figures proffered by Shulman, Geithner, Levin, (and other co-sponsors of FATCA) when acknowledging the existence of US citizens abroad – only insofar as we are miscast as the origin of the ‘tax gap’ – and as a source of penalty revenues. http://www.aca.ch/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=486&Itemid=129 ,
and,
Yes, you’re very right, ‘overseas’ taxation issues (or any related reporting problems like FBARs and draconian penalties) was not on that 2008 list of campaign promises re Americans ‘abroad’. : (
@Brock the Badger – Tried one of the two (Dems Abroad) and was very disappointed. I need to get over it because they are in an impossible situation. FATCA was passed by a Dem congress and president. I just don’t see how they could possibly help us without getting into a lot of trouble with their management. The Repubicans on the other hand have no problem tackling this issue 🙂
So I’m dumping Dems Abroad and going with the Repubs.
Perhaps another tactic would be to urge the Democrats, and Democrats Abroad (ex. Canadian, and other branches where we live) to publicly address the FBAR issues and FATCA burden we are face, in any 2012 platform, AND to urge the Republicans, and Republicans Abroad to do the same – providing substantive detailed promises re the FBAR requirement and penalty structures – not just FATCA – and not just pledge opposition to FATCA as seen through the lens of corporations (even if they are considered ‘persons’ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_personhood , http://scholar.google.ca/scholar?q=corporations+AND+persons&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ei=TBpNT9qsK8THqgGTzLnFDg&ved=0CCwQgQMwAA).
@ Victoria, yes, I see the potential problems with challenging ‘management’ publicly….
: )
On your note re; harnessing the support of those abroad, I found this:
http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/31/10281095-contests-in-battleground-states-could-hinge-on-invisible-overseas-voters “Contests in battleground states could hinge on ‘invisible’ overseas voters”……
@Brock the Badger – I think you’re on to something here. OK, the Dems Abroad are kinda in a bad spot and the Repubs want to make political hay but…
We could draft a statement to both saying, look folks, we are overseas Americans who vote (would need some bona fide registered voters here) and we are mighty unhappy about a few things (give them a list that is short and sweet) and let’s ask them to explain what they intend to do about it. Then copies could be sent to the national committees, the reps of the people who signed and the media. We could coordinate with ACA and AARO to be sure that we are all singing in the same key. I think ACA’s recent campaign against citizenship-based taxation would be a good place to start.
Then we kick back and see what happens. They could totally ignore us, they might reply privately, they might reply publicly.
@Victoria, It is worth a try. The Canadian chapter of Democrats Abroad has an AGM coming up
Sunday, March 25 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. “The meeting will take place on line via Web Ex conference call, but chapters are encouraged to meet face-to-face in local venues to participate in the meeting” One agenda/report item is : “Report on FBAR/FATCA”
http://www.democratsabroad.org/node/14486
At some point (don’t know the timeline) I assume they (and the other chapters – see; http://www.democratsabroad.org/countries ) will be working to “develop (our) policy platform and (our) desired input to the global Democrats Abroad Policy Platform.”
The Republicans Abroad probably have an equivalent, though I don’t see specifics on the Canada site.