In the coming November elections I will not vote. Unlike other absentees, this will not be due to protest, lack of attractive alternatives, or (as is, regretfully, so common among Americans) apathy. I won't vote for the simple fact that I'm not an American citizen, and therefore have no voting rights. Why should this simple fact bother any of you? Maybe it should not. I think it should, however, because of another simple fact: just like many people around the world I will be significantly affected by the results of this election. Moreover, as a resident of the Middle East, my future prospects depend to a large extent on the American elections.

These two facts, my lack of voting rights and my position as one who will be gravely and personally affected by this election, manifest a peculiar problem that the contemporary theory of democracy has not yet resolved. Democracy, at least in its normative understanding (an understanding that, I fear, has escaped Stephen Schwartz), is the notion that an individual has the right to be involved in shaping the decisions and policies that influence his or her life. The common (almost natural) assumption is that our lives are most affected in the political unit of the state (or in American terms: the nation), and some sub-state units such as the city. Hence it seems obvious that voting rights belong to the citizens, not to foreigners: that the borders of suffrage lie at the borders of the state. What is more obvious than that?

But this question engenders another: is there anything less problematic than this assumption? Consider for a moment environmental policies or law-enforcement policies. In our increasingly globalizing world the outcomes of these policies cut across borders. Environmental hazards and unchecked crime organizations know no borders, and their affect on people beyond the borders of any given nation often go unchecked. The transnational affects of national policies are even more dramatic in the case of the U.S., the sole remaining super power (at least for the time being). When the U.S. economy falters, the economies of other countries feel it in waves not ripples. The results of a U.S national security policy are felt around the world.

This is the case especially with regard to current U.S. policies in the Middle East, which will affect my life as much--maybe even more--than it will affect your lives. Will you attack Iran? Will you give my country--Israel--the green light to attack Iran? How involved will you decide to be in resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict? Will you pull out from Iraq and Afghanistan, or will you stay longer? Will you forcefully attempt democratizing the Middle East, or will you suffice yourselves with some minimal regional stability? All those questions, and many more, lie at your doorstep in the coming November elections. As political theory gives no reliable answers to the disparity between the limits of suffrage and the limitless reach of election outcomes, we are left with the default: universal suffrage is the suffrage of a nation citizenry. (There are plenty who embrace cosmopolitan schemes, but cosmopolitanism contains its own unresolvable problems.) That means that I will not (and should not) be there in November to cast my vote. In the absence of any other reasonable solution we are left with one (far from perfect) answer, which is that your civic responsibility is heavier than some of you wish; it is not only your interests that you should take into account, but also my interests and the interests of all those Middle Easterners whose lives will be affected by this forthcoming collective decision. There is extra tonnage in the burden of American accountability.

To bear this burden appropriately American citizens should be more knowledgeable of the world and of available foreign policies. I believe Amitai Etzioni's Security First is a valuable contribution in the attempt to broaden and deepen American Citizens' understanding of world affairs. I hope this TPMCafe Book Club discussion on the merits and drawbacks of Etzioni's recommendations will also be of some help.

Good luck to all of us.