[Dean's World] Dean: The Archaic "Natural Born" requirement

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Posted by Dean:
The Archaic "Natural Born" requirement
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1157074190.shtml


   I would love to amend the US Constitution to allow any person who is a
   citizen to become President. But I would put some caveats on it:

   You must have been a citizen for at least X number of years (let's
   call it 20 years, with room for arguments around the edges) and a
   resident for a similar number of years.

   Just so no one thinks I'm tryinng to gerrymander it to make Arnold
   Schwartzenegger President, we can even put a date on it, just as we
   put a date on the Amendment that limited the President to 2
   terms--which, when that amendment was added, had a caveat that said
   that anyone who was President at the time of its enactment would not
   be bound by it. That caveat was added solely to allow Harry Truman to
   run for a third term if he wanted to. As history had it, Harry didn't
   seek a third term, and the matter was finished, and all future
   Presidents were bound by that two-term limit.

   So too we might make such an amendment to say something like, "Must
   have become an American Citizen after January 1, 2001," or some such.
   Which would exclude Arnold Schwartzenegger, and would also exclude my
   own Governor here in Michigan, Jennifer Granholm, who is a Canadian by
   birth but has been here since she was all of 3 years old, and by most
   accounts (even grudging Republicans) has been a competent Governor.
   She will probably be re-elected this November, and will do so with my
   support (although, full disclosure, my lovely wife is working against
   Granholm's re-election).

   I would phrase it something like this: "Must be a natural-born citizen
   of the United States, or have become a citizen after January 1 2001,
   and in either case must have resided in the United States as a citizen
   for at least 20 years."

   There, that wasn't so hard was it? No worries about current
   politicians, but opening it up to every American henceforth.

   This "natural born" stuff is a relic of the 18th Century, when the
   Founders feared that some British or German or French or Dutch or
   Portuguese or Spanish upstart might try to upset the young Republic.
   Such concerns are now past.

   Indeed, consider this: John McCain, who has some chance of being our
   next President, was born in Panama. But his parents were both American
   citizens, so he automatically qualifies as "natural born." But
   Jennifer Granholm, born a Canadian, has been here since she was in
   diapers. He can be President but she can't? Why? Because we are
   worried that the insidious Canadians may have brainwashed young
   Jennifer to become their tool? Yet two Americans living in Moscow can
   have a child, and he can become President even if he was raised his
   first 30 years in Russia and only speaks English as a second language?

   One of the greatest things about America is that we will let anyone
   who comes here and runs through the hoops become an American citizen.
   My dear wife's mother, who came here in the 1960s and raised most of
   her family here, became a citizen just a couple of years ago. Her
   first language is Polish, and she still has a delightful accent. She
   cast her first vote as an American citizen in 2004, and we were all
   incredibly proud for her. (Just don't ask her whether she voted for
   Bush or Kerry, she won't tell you. As is her right.)

   How great is America? You came here of your own volition, you made
   your way, and you jumped through the hoops and passed the tests and
   said the oath. The only response from me is, "Welcome, my fellow
   American."

   And she is our fellow American. I'm so proud of my American
   mother-in-law, Anna Kondraciuk. She gave me my wife, after all. And by
   extension she gave me my two sons, Jacob and Draco. Or as my Polish
   in-laws might call them, "Yacub and Drah-ko."

   Isn't it time we fix this 18th century "natural born" relic? I think
   so.