Replacing US Citizenship with Denizenship?

Let me get an opinion on this one. I was talking to a relative of mine attending a liberal university, and she was mentioning that an essay question for an exam or writing assignment asked her to defend the idea of erasing citizenship and replacing it with denizenship, which is granting aliens the same rights as citizens, including voting, stuff like that. She too is a liberal, but I think it's crazy that people would take that idea seriously. Advocating the idea of redefining our citizenship in this nation to include official citizenship rights for even illegal aliens? I know this stuff already happens on a smaller scale, but how seriously is this idea being taken on a national level, to make this official national policy? Anybody know? I'd like to think this stays at the level of loony university professors and ignorant students, but even that idea is creepy because today's college students are tomorrow's leaders. Just thought I'd rant, but let me know what you think of this, and whether this idea is actually taken seriously by politicians.

I think it is coming - like it or not -

The New World Order - in full swing - and perhaps why the immigration issue is being dragged out as it is -

The average citizen is told not to break the law - while officials are telling people from other nations to come here even if they break the law - And even when those illegals get caught - they are protected by other officials - who come to their aid - (Judges included)

They(officials in our government) are taking baby steps towards it - so as not to irk the American citizen into action - Everything is being done covertly - in a well thought out - calculated way -

just my thoughts -

Your concern is well founded. The crazies of the 1960's mostly run academia now. They may be tenured, pot bellied, and have summer houses at the shore, but they still think of themselves as revolutionaries at heart who are morally and intellectually superior to the clods who pay their salaries and send their kids to them. Fortunately, most college students these days tune out the intellectual goofiness. Many devote their energies to exercising their libidos and testing their tolerance to alcohol and other substances.

Suggest to your liberal college student relative that she might investigate if the advocates of "denizenship" for America genuinely believe in the principle of broadening the influence of traditionally unrepresented constituencies.

For example, how about letting students, university blue collar and service employees, alumnae, and local communities have a vote on college hiring, tenure, budget and salaries, and academic policies. By numbers alone, these groups should command a majority of the seats on the board of trustees and university senate. Web based technologies could also be used to expand democratic governance through initiatives and referendum qualified via petition. Academic freedom would not be infringed because academia would be redefined to include these marginalized and sometimes mistreated groups.

If this concept were adopted at several major US universities -- call it "academic denizenship" -- then its clear benefits and success would make a compelling case for adoption by the entire country. The energy and vision of the 1960's would be reborn. Our best and brightest can certainly make denizenship work in their own polity. Right? Why would they oppose applying the idea to their own realm while urging it upon the country at large? Wouldn't that be hypocritical?

The World Citizen Foundation is a nonprofit nonpartisan think-tank dedicated to the design of solutions to international problems based on the fundamental principles of equal human dignity, liberty, democracy and constitutionally protected basic rights of all.

We are dedicated to the proposition that all levels of political authority can only derive their legitimacy from the fundamental sovereignty of the people. This is widely accepted at local and national levels but not internationally or globally. This contradiction is the ultimate source of the corruption of democracy at local and national levels, as the non-democratic paradigm which rules in international relations corrodes the paradigm of individual rights and freedom which is used domestically.

We believe that democracy is a human invention and a political "technology" which historically is still very young and whose power and potential has neither been fully understood nor realized. As a human invention, it is imperfect and will always be but it also can be improved, just as a car or computer or, using a better analogy, a software programme, can be upgraded. Politics is like the "Operating System" of society and to remain free and prosperous, it is to our advantage (in addition to being our civic duty) to constantly improve democracy as the least worst of all possible political "Operating Systems". Because of globalization and the need to agree on basic common rules of civilized conduct in our global community, we would be remiss if we did not explore the possibilities of using the political technology of democracy to solve global problems.

http://www.worldcitizen.org/

California state universities are charged with the responsibility to produce good citizens.

From the California Education Code:

66050. It is the intent of the Legislature that public institutions
of higher education in California shall provide a collegiate
experience which gives each student the skills of communication and
problem solving, the ideas and principles underlying the major areas
of modern knowledge, the ability to consider ethical issues
thoughtfully, the understanding that learning is a continuous
lifelong process, and the knowledge of democracy necessary for good
citizenship. The Legislature further intends that an undergraduate
education prepare students to think critically and independently, and
to have the flexibility to adapt to changing economic and social
conditions, new workforce needs, and demands of a multicultural
society. It is also the intent of the Legislature that the segments
of higher education recognize that quality teaching is the core
ingredient of the undergraduate educational experience. The segments
of higher education are encouraged to improve the quality of
undergraduate education as a central priority of California's public
colleges and universities.

66070. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The primary goal of every higher educational institution
should be to provide a collegiate experience which gives each student
the skills of communication and problemsolving, the ideas and
principles underlying the major areas of modern knowledge, the
ability to consider critical issues thoughtfully, the understanding
that learning is a continuous lifelong process, and the knowledge of
democracy necessary for good citizenship.
(b) To improve performance, educational institutions are
encouraged to use effective assessment mechanisms based on positive
reinforcement, incentives, and cooperation.

This sends liberal professors up the walls when they discover it.

The intent of the assignment is, in all likelihood, to undermine public support for such clauses in the state codes, and to replace them with something more along the lines of a commitment to produce "world citizens." The current form of government all but acknowledged as racist, etc., and the current national society all but acknowledged as consuming much more than its share of natural resources, polluting the environment, and oppressing native peoples of the world, and so on.

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