The Ancient Athenian view of citizenship
was that mostly adult males who completed military service
could have it, though there were exceptions.
But it was absolute that in that direct democracy
that every vote represented the voter, nobody else.
Some women and children were citizens
without the vote. Slaves and foreigners
took part in nothing beyond their chattel-dom.
In my city state the right to vote,
implied in full citizenship, would not
be about what one can take for oneself,
nor based on the anatomy and status you were born with.
But it would be built on how much rubbish you remove
from public view, how many trees the citizen has planted,
for the betterment of the area, and beyond.
What support anyone gives to the most poor
and needy, and lastly how much anyone contributes
to positive public debate. This is voting by doing and living,
and makes the actual act of voting a token well paid for in advance.
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