Body and Soul:

There's an interesting article in today's Christian Science Monitor about a proposal to revive an old American tradition and allow non-citizens to vote:

Historically, citizenship has not be a requirement for voting. When the nation was first founded, a man just needed to be a property owner to cast a ballot. As an incentive to settle the West, many states and territories required people to simply be a "resident" for one to two years.

Granting voting rights was seen as a way to get newcomers engaged in the civic process. In 1848, Wisconsin established a model that other states soon followed. It simply required residents to declare their intention of becoming citizens before being allowed to vote. Up until the 1920s, when a powerful, antiimmigrant backlash swept the country, 22 states and territories allowed legal immigrants to vote in local elections.

"It was a proven pathway to civic education, political education, and citizenship by giving people a stake in their communities," says Ron Hayduk, a political scientist at the Borough of Manhattan Community College.