Dual Citizenship and Positions in Government

[bozo]

It's probably not that unusual for most developed countries to have publicly elected officials with dual citizenship.

My concern is the obvious conflict of interest, I don't believe it's possible for someone to respond and act impartially or objectively to controversial political issues that may affect the country they have citizenship in.

They may make decisions which are good for the country they originate from but not necessarily for the country they're elected to serve.

Question is, should publicly elected officials be permitted to hold dual-citizenship?

[carlos]

MMMM some people with SINGLE citizenship don't act in the best interest of the country the are citizens of,

but some times people who leave their country do it because they have no choice, political pressure, bad economy, or even life threats are the reasons, and these people tend to be more gratefull to the country that gives them shelter, so they may work in the best interest of the new country, or both

Carlos

[vanjast]

This whole idea of 'countryness', patiotism and other forms of indoctrination, people and mind control..... just pi..ses me off.

We should have categories such as..
Bad Guys
- Religious moron
- Religious nutter
- Liar
- Politician
- Criminal

Good Guys
- Me  :green2
- and the rest

Now, on our Earth citizen passport (Not that we're soon going anywhere else), we have one of these categories  stamped.
At the the Good Guys airports/ports/borders.. we have Customs Firing Squads, armed to the teeth.
The good guys are let through.. and the bad guys are shot on the spot. - I love customs control. :bg

[xanatose]

The dual citizenship problem is in the case of a person with honor, not scumbags. Scumbags do not care about such things.

In the unlikely even that an honorable person gets to be elected, the person is expected to have their loyalty in the country that elected them. And, contrary to judges, they cannot simply pass their decisions to another (since they represent the people that elected them). Thus single citizenship would, in theory, eliminate the possibility of a conflict of interests when the interest of country A and the interests of country B are in opposition.

Come to think of it, using the same logic, shouldn't the politicians be required to renounce their political parties when they get elected. After all, they are representing the best interest of their constituents, and not the political party. What happens when the interest of the constituents and the interest of the political party are not the same?

[hutch--]

Van,

Good Guys
- Me   :green
- and the rest

I am glad you have your priorities right.  :P

[dedndave]

In the unlikely even that an honorable person gets to be elected...

they may all start out as honorable (well, most)   :P
in fact, we all have the capacity to do good or bad
problem is, once they are in office, they are expected to "play ball" in order to stay in office, or maybe even to stay alive
it's the case for all the "power" positions from jailhouse guards to cops to presidents
and includes people like those in charge of charities, universities - you name it