“There is a regulation in the Social Security code. It says something to the effect that “A 22 year old shall be considered to be a child.” That is not saying that all 22 year olds are children, but to use your construction, it does.
No. The regulation refers to an accepted concept of a child and applies it. We all know what a child is. Similarly, the Naturalization Act of 1790 refers to the concept of natural born citizenship that pre-existed the Act and applies it.
What I am maintaining is not original with me. I, along with millions, was taught what natural born citizenship was in American history class, long before this ever came up. It was taught for hundreds of years.
If that understanding had been adhered to, we would never have had Obama as president.
In 1790, they had the same understanding of NBC that you do. The act is phrased in a way that creates a pretend, a fiction - all naturalization law has the same essential form. Person is an alien, we'll naturalize him and pretend he is a citizen. The pretend is as good as the fact, a naturalized citizen is every bit as much a citizen, as a citizen who was not naturalized.