But that is exactly what it does.
Two children born on the same day at Balboa Naval Hospital in San Diego, California, USA. One child can aspire to the presidency if he desires. The other child, an American citizen, born and raised in the United States, cannot because his mother was an immigrant. The second child, because his mother immigrated here, is a de facto second-class citizen who does not have the same freedoms, rights and privileges as the first child despite the fact both children were born in the exact same place.
Doesn't sound very American, does it? Because it's not.
The founders were clear in why they set the bar higher for eligibility to be the President. There is a means for changing the Constitution.
“Doesn’t sound very American, does it? Because it’s not.”
That’s an exhageration. American exceptionalism has a limit. We do have class distinctions, and always will. Like I said before, married people form a seperate class from singles, as do children from adults. There are all sorts of licenses given out by state, local, and federal agencies granting people certain privileges, from practicing medicine to fishing. There are net tax payers and net tax receivers, who John C. Calhoun warned us would eventually form seperate classes. In the face of all this, the presidency is such a small thing.
By the way, I am not among those who believes that children born on American soil aren’t necessarily natural born citizens. Everything I’ve ever read tells me they are.
And did that immigrant mother apply for citizenship or does she continue to hold citizenship in another country?