Foreign Born President? Congress Eyes Amendment

Mobile Register from the San Francisco Chronicle | August 13, 2003

[ClearBlueSky]

Austrian born Arnold Schwarzenegger is still a long way from being elected California's Governor, but proposed Constitutional amendments that would allow foreign born citizens such as the action movie star to become President will be debated in Congress this autumm.

One of the proposals, by Schwarzenegger political friend, Senator Orin Hatch, Republican Utah, would allow anyone who has been a US citizen for 20 years, and has resided in the country for 14 years, to be elected President. Schwarzenegger was naturalized in 1983.

The other proposal, by a bi-partisan group in the house, whose ranks include conservative Representative Darrell Issa, Republican California- who spent more than 1.5 million to put the recall election on the October 7th ballot- would allow anyone who has been a naturalized citizen for 35 years to be eligible to become President. The House legislation, whose co-sponsors include liberal Representative Barney Frank, Democrat Mass., was proposed long before the recall movement in California.

Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, drafted in 1787, says that only natural-born Americans at least 35 years old who have lived in the country for 14 years can serve as President.

Proponents of a change say the rule long ago outlived its usefulness. Hatch said figures such as former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright or Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, the Canada native whom Democrats consider a rising star, couldn't be President. Nor could the 700 foreign born recipients of the Medal of Honor.

[RinaseaofDs]

You may be in the wrong forum. Democrat Underground is www.democraticunderground.com

You'll find all kinds of people there that think the constitution is a living, breathing document, that the founders were sort of adle-brained slaveholder, types that sort of got lucky on the first draft.

You seemed doomed to repeat history. A republic isn't about what the 'people' want. It's about representative government, with built in provisions, like the electoral college, that guards against forms of mob rule.

You think maybe we should have had that nasty two term rule repealed back in 1999, doncha? Big bill would still be banging interns two at a time and he and Bernie Ebbers would be doing egg rolls in Air Force One, running user manuals for all the crypto equipment to the PLA through that nifty in-flight fax gizmo.

Long as those checks kept a cashin'.

Barbara Streisand indeed.

[El Gato]

Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, drafted in 1787, says that only natural-born Americans at least 35 years old who have lived in the country for 14 years can serve as President.>

A good idea in 1787 and still good idea today.

Not that a native born American can't be a traitor, and occupy the White House at the same time, seems like that's happened quite recently come to think of it.

[TheDon]

You think I'm kidding?

http://www.mikhailgorbachev.org/

[El Gato]

Given your screen name, you ought to know the last major party nominee for President who was NOT born in the United States.

Wasn't Goldwater technically born in the nation of the United States, just not in one of the several states? Same as if someone born in DC were to want to run for President. Arizona territory was part of the United States when AuH20 was born there.

[dvwjr]

You lose. None of the first seven presidents was born outside United States territory. The Constitution prohibited anyone who was not a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of the Constitution and a resident for at least 14 years from becoming President of the United States. Furthermore, anyone born after the adoption of the Constitution is required to be a natural born citizen of the United States in order to become President. The one person born outside the United States who had a shot at becoming President was Alexander Hamilton. If he had not been killed by Aarron Burr, he might have been elected President.

Great answer from above.

Doesn't anyone get their History right from High School. The Constitution was specifically written to allow Alexander Hamilton to pursue the Presidency. That is why is was worded such that only at the time of the adoption of the Constitution could a foreign born US citizen be elected.

Of course, Arron Burr ended that possibility...

dvwjr

[MeekOneGOP]

Oh, yeah ! Sure ! Why not let drug-addicted, AIDS infected teens run for Prez while we're at it ?? ...
< /sarcasm >

[Cronos]

This reminds me of the movie Demolition man where Sylvester Stallone comes upon the Schwarzenegger library and Sandra Bullock (hmmmmm) tells him that in 2010 Congress allowed foreign born persons to run for President.

Truth mirroring fiction?

[GatekeeperBookman]

Does Mr. Hatch belong to CFR?? No matter-this does raise many questions about what have been laughingly called conspircay theories.

[ActionNewsBill]

Hatch said figures such as former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright or Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, the Canada native whom Democrats consider a rising star, couldn't be President.

There's three good reasons right there not to change the constitution.

President Kissinger?

[ActionNewsBill]

It would open the door for Arnold but also open it up to Jennifer Granholm.

I don't really see much difference between the two.

Granholm is prettier.

[rintense]

Agreed. This is just stupidity at this point in time.

[Bogey78O]

Well Back to the Future predicted the World Series.

[countrydummy]

This is an outrage and is scary and folks do need to know this. Hatch has completely lost it!

[hardhead]

Just another nail in the coffin of U.S. sovereignty. It will happen! The tenacles of the one-worlders have a long reach and they are strangling the Constitution and our society. There are some who have been warning of this for years but people are basically happy as long as they have weekend sports and beer. This is another very deliberate attempt to end the great experiment of the republic of the United States. It is a fact that a complete change to socializm cannot just occur - it has to be done in little bits and pieces so that people are not aware of it. Thank God for patriots.

[writmeister]

Not to be picky, but our 8th (Martin Van Buren), 9th (William Henry Harrison), and 12th (Zachary Taylor) Presidents were also born before the adoption of the Constitution. Van Buren in 1782, Harrison in 1773, and Taylor in 1784.

[CholeraJoe]

Nor could the 700 foreign born recipients of the Medal of Honor.

That's because most of them received their awards during the Civil War and Indian Campaigns and are dead.

[Eagle Eye]

We should be able to elect anyone we wish to be president.And I say support the Constitution as is on this matter.

[B Knotts]

This is absolutely crazy. Hatch needs some Prozak or something.

[petitfour]

No way. Is Gorbachev really Muslim? Please document.

[McCloud-Strife]

Something that recently occured to me is this. The first nine presidents were not born in the United States, but Rather in the British colonies. It was not until John Taylor, born in 1790 that a president was born in the US. So how did they go about getting elected?