Maybe my past complicates my thinking. My father was stripped from his native citizenship at age 7. He spent most of his youth as a Displaced Person with no country, though he grew to love both the countries that deigned to take him in: one raised him with loving Foster parents (UK) and one allowed him to work three jobs to get an advanced degree and become successful (USA).
Your way to determine NBC is actually what I used to believe. I even believed my son, born in another country, would never be able to run for President. I’ve changed my thinking, probably around the McCain campaign time when the subject was discussed here so much. I do believe that if ONE parent is American and of age, and lived most of his or her recent life in the USA, their child is natural born. We can agree to disagree.
I am grateful for my second passport because I have never trusted that the USA will always be my beloved home. I am highly patriotic for this land, its people in general, and especially for our Constitution. But should things take an evil turn (imaginable) I have elsewhere to shelter and I can provide that for my children even once I am gone. A lot of my ancestors perished in Nazi Germany because they had no way to escape.
I really am OK with your definition but mine allows more children of immigrants a chance at the Presidency, and it is a bit easier to define. I’m good either way.
The older I get, the better I appreciate how some rules might not seem fair and how some truly inconvenience me, but at the same time they also are for a greater good, that may or may not be obvious, and therefore protect me.
I see how the Constitution, as well as natural law, tend to be written like this.
I also can see that we are hell bent to rewrite both.
Like is frequently the case with history's lessons, we won't know what we've lost until it's gone, unfortunately.
Obviously (I hope it was obvious), I was not. In fact, the strict NBC definition seems to work in reverse, believe it or not, and away from the Master Race/Nazi thing, not lead to it.
Whatever your opinion of the Founding Fathers, I think there is method behind their madness with regard to the strict definition of Natural Born Citizenship (Born in country to citizen parents) as an eligibility requirement for POTUS. In fact, history soon proved the soundness of their requirement.
One or more of the following are often considered to be an “Antichrist” and, all combined, they have probably killed more people other than God did during the Flood.
And, coincidently(???), not one of them was a true Natural Born Citizen of the country that gave them power:
Napoléon Bonaparte (1769 – 1821) was not a Natural Born Citizen of France. He born in Corsica.I’m sure there are others I didn’t think of, and that there will be others in the future, perhaps one of our “own” in our future. We are trending that way.Adolf Hitler (1889 – 1945) was not a Natural Born Citizen of Germany. He was born in Austria.
Joseph Stalin (1878 –1953) was not a Natural Born Citizen of Russia. He was born an ethnic Georgian, (though Georgia was a part of the Russian Empire at the time).
Anyway, I'm not sure what the psychology behind this "coincidence" might be, but to me it looks significant.
History seems to agree and offers some lessons that might explain why.
Lastly, for what it’s worth…Barack Hussein Obama.
We could have dodged that bullet had we followed the strict definition I believe they gave us to save US.