By Robert Klitzkie
Joyce McClure’s op-ed titled "Fundamental Rights Denied" is a good example of her own virtue signaling and righteousness preening and Neil Weare’s gaslighting but not much else.
Consider the following:
No fundamental rights are denied because there is no constitutional right to vote. Pull out your copy of the U.S. Constitution and you won’t find it. The Bill of Rights, except for the Second Amendment, consists of negative rights but no right to vote.
UOCAVA right allows residents of Guam to vote in Guam elections even if they have moved to foreign countries.
U.S. citizens living here are not second-class citizens. We have the same rights as citizens living in the states. (See Davis v. GovGuam)
Here’s Article IX of the Treaty of Paris of 1898: “The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby ceded to the United States shall be determined by the Congress.”
“…98 percent of whom are racial or ethnic minorities.” 80 percent of Puerto Ricans identify as white.
There is neither denial of the right to vote nor disenfranchisement. No one living in Hawaii, Alaska or the continental territories ever voted for national office.
Article I Section 2 Amendment 17 and Article I Section 1 Paragraph 2 specify how national officials are elected in the 50 states.
Article IV Section 4 Paragraph 2 deals with the territory of the United States reading: “The Congress shall have the power to dispose of and make all needful rules and regulations respecting the territory or other property of the United States.”
Downes v. Bidwell held that Puerto Rico (and by extrapolation, the other islands acquired from Spain or the chiefs of American Samoa by cession, was indeed not an integral part of the United States and that the Constitution did not apply ex proprio vigore.
Ergo we have mirror Internal Revenue Code payable into the Government of Guam's treasury, Section 30 money and duty-free status, among others, which none of the 50 could ever have. No one has denied anyone anything. The machine just isn’t built that way.
Complaining about “fundamental rights” and not being able to vote if you live here is like complaining to Harley Davidson that you can’t ride your motorcycle backward—the machine just isn’t built that way. You can’t deny that which never existed.
Kneel Weird, our self-appointed savior chimes in with a dose of identity politics. “Appearing before the committee, Neil Weare, a Guam native and president and founder of Equally American, a non-profit organization committed to achieving equal rights for Americans living in U.S. territories, testified, 'An often-overlooked way in which citizens of the U.S., primarily those from traditionally marginalized communities, are denied the right to vote is through the deprivation of the right to vote to residents of U.S. territories.”
Weird went on to say, “98 percent of whom are racial or ethnic minorities.” 80 percent of Puerto Ricans identify as white.”
We are not fortunate to have Neil Weare gaslighting us.
Bob Klitzkie is a former senator and Superior Court of Guam judge pro tem. He hosts the talk show, “Tall Tales,” on KUSG-FM (93.3 FM) weekday afternoons from 4 to 6 p.m. Send feedback to klitzkie@hotmail.com.
Joyce McClure replies:
If he's saying there is no right to vote included in the Constitution?
The right to vote is included in the U.S. Constitution. Although the original text of the Constitution did not explicitly grant the right to vote, several amendments have been added to ensure and protect voting rights for various groups. Key amendments related to voting rights include:
The 15th Amendment (1870): Prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
The 19th Amendment (1920): Prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, effectively granting women the right to vote.
The 24th Amendment (1964): Prohibits the revocation of voting rights due to the non-payment of a poll tax or any other tax.
The 26th Amendment (1971): Prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States who are eighteen years of age or older on account of age.
Additionally, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a landmark piece of federal legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting, further enforcing the voting rights guaranteed by the 15th Amendment.
These amendments and laws collectively ensure that the right to vote is protected for all eligible citizens in the United States.
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