That’s it, Uncle Sam: The author renounces his US citizenship

The Spectator (U.K.) ^ | 08/12/06 | Boris Johnson

[wagglebee]

The author is obviosly a leftist.

[Canard]

Pretty much not, no.

[agere_contra]

It's like they somehow expect millions of letters to the editor begging them to stay.

You do know we are talking about a British man who lives in Britain? He's not Alec Baldwin, forever defiantly leaving America and wiping the dust off his feet. He is British and lives in Henley, and has done (as far as I know) for decades. Why should his British passport be invalided - in the eyes of American passport authorities - by the fact that he was born in America?

If Catherine Zeta Jones - born in Britain - were to visit her homeland, would she be held at customs like Boris? No. So why is it ok the other way around?

[Petronski]

or how about... Don't let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya.

Awww . . . my baby's becoming a redneck!

[rennatdm]

Cute read. I'm just... not.... "feeling his pain".

[Old Student]

For Boris:

Good Riddance! And don't come back! Not even on your knees...

[Old Student]

"....that doesn't mean a thing. If he wants to renounce his citizenship he needs to do it legally and officially by way of the state department. I suspect he knows that already but hopes the reader doesn't."

If he's gotten it published this publicly, and widely, I suspect he'll find it quite valid. He may well find his name on another list, shortly, too.

[agere_contra]

He may well find his name on another list, shortly, too.

The list of British people whose British passports are being denied due to the accident of their birth? That list?

[GreenLanternCorps]

I love FR, but the ability of people to post without reading or understanding the article leaves me speechless...

[agere_contra]

Man you said it.

[Sensei Ern]

Don't let the "escape hatch" hit you on the way out!

[toddlintown]

Choke on a crumpet, ya poof!

[Old Student]

I was thinking more like the "No Entry Under Any Circumstances" list. AKA the Terror Watch List.

[agere_contra]

Yes, I get it, thanks. But why would a Conservative British MP be put on an Terrorist Watch List just because he was born in America? Is it because he has had to renounce his American Citizenship in order for American Customs to recognise the fact that he is a British citizen?

We don't do this in reverse. I gave an example previously of Catherine Zeta Jones. British-born: she had a British passport and now has an American one. We wouldn't force her to regain her British passport before allowing her to enter the country. We recognise American passports as belonging to friends and allies. So why do American customs not return the favour?

[Canard]

I'd love to know what percentage of people who have posted to this thread read beyond the headline of the article!

[agere_contra]

Hmm, I hope my last post didn't come across as being snarky. There's been a lot of aggravating noise on this thread which has been making me punchy I guess. I'm going home now: no doubt this oddly mis-read article will reappear tomorrow.

[Old Student]

"But why would a Conservative British MP be put on an Terrorist Watch List just because he was born in America?"

It's not because he was born in America, it's because he's become a British MP. IIRC, you cannot hold a position in a foreign government, and retain your US citizenship. If I did something like that, I'd also lose my military retirement check, as well. The one thing that would indicate that he did not INTEND to give up his US citizenship would be to maintain his US passport. If he didn't intend to maintain his US citizenship, he's supposed to renounce it in front a State Department official, but having done so publicly, in writing, is quite likely to have that effect anyway.

I don't mind people becoming so enamoured of a foreign country that they live there full time. I've got friends who do so in Germany and Britain, in point of fact. They also maintain their US passports, though. If I hadn't had children, I could have done so with the Republic of Turkey, myself. For that matter, I don't mind foreigners who want to reside here, as long as they follow the legal procedures to do so. However, if Mr. Johnson doesn't want us, we don't want him, either. At all.

[agere_contra]

I'd love to know what percentage of people who have posted to this thread read beyond the headline of the article!

It works out as 3.116 % :0)

I guess FReepers just got used to Baldwin, Moore, Streisand, Sarandon, and various gay journalists forswearing their homeland in print every few days. Boris Johnson's amiable goodbye to the kafka-esque American Passport office just seemed like more of the same, maybe. Anyway, good night to one and all.

[Canard]

" It's not because he was born in America, it's because he's become a British MP."

That doesn't appear anywhere in the article and certainly isn't what Boris is saying that US customs said to him. He hasn't recently become an MP by the way, he was elected in 2001.

"you cannot hold a position in a foreign government, and retain your US citizenship"

Again, they didn't say he had to renounce his citizenship. They said that if he retained his US citizenship, he could not use his British passport to enter the US, despite the fact that he is British.

[mathurine]

His departure raises the average IQ of two countries.