Here is a recent article what was brought to my attention this morning that provides some opportunities for feedback and comments.
I bet you didn’t know that there are 6,320,000 U.S. civilians living abroad. Of which 205,118 are military personnel deployed overseas, and 270,604 are Study abroad students. (That’s a lot of study abroad students. More on that later.)
If overseas Americans were a state, we would be the 18th largest in the nation. (Sorry, Missouri!)
Read and comment here
well, that did not work. Humm.
@Mark Twain, please do register to vote in NY. I registered in FL last week and this is what I experienced: http://expatami.wordpress.com/2012/06/10/you-are-an-invalid-resident/; The more Americans abroad who register to vote and document their experience, the more obvious it will become how taxation without representation just does not work.
*Thanks swisspinoy for the support. I was being 51% sarcastic. I have a driver’s license at my parent’s Florida address. State by state rules vary, as the national rule seems to be that one can only vote in national elections—I have found no clarification how that relates to national congressional votes.
I had high hopes that Rubio might attach to my letters and telephone calls and have been let down. The other democratic Florida Senator thanked me for my interest in the HR 2487 farm bill, which I sent back to him together with my original letter and got some additional jibberish. No response from the Tea Party Representative.
Regarding the internet spying, the hotmail account I have been using for this site and also letters to Swedish parties (zero response) led to my account being locked for suspicious activity. It became unlocked when they SMS’d a code to my given cell phone (I am therefore no longer anonymous to the NSA). But then also, my computer crashed while I was viewing an Obama birth certificate site which had previously been linked to Isaac Brock society. (which side had attached a virus to that one?)
@Mark Twain, oh, that might explain it. I was curious about the denial of service attacks after posting. It almost seems as if someone fears the working middle class in regards to taxation without representation, but I’m not pointing any fingers at anyone. Nevertheless, this is not the first place where I’ve expressed an honest opinion on a given topic for the benefit of America.
So, if Americans abroad can only vote in national elections, who exactly represents us? Anyone?
*Next time, you could skip that simply by getting a driver’s license in your chosen state. In Florida, it automatically initiates a voter registration process (as is similar in other states). From there, I became a normal absentee voter and only used self-restraint to not vote locally.
This year, Florida absentee balloting in my district can be done by email, for which I have signed up.
I have not found the Florida rules, as if they represent me in Congress. By default, the answer is probably no unless written otherwise. The only responses I get (the bad responses) are mailed to my parents address, whereas I get zero response from the letters mentioning (but not listing) my absentee residence.
I have additionally decided, that since penalties are retroactive, that I can also retroactively make a 2008 vote for anyone other than Barry and his Band of Merry Men.