My issue is that I, like many others, don’t really understand the law regarding this and so I read every thing I can, pro and con, to try to develop my own opinion. I really don’t know any other way to approach this. To me it’s a major issue. If he truly is ineligible then we can expect the rats to make an issue of it even though they’ve gotten away with Obama. If he is eligible then it is peace of mind for his supporters.
The whole thing seems to be up for much debate...something that Cruz himself really likes.
"No, actually, and it's not even that complicated; you just have to look up the right law. It boils down to whether Cruz is a "natural born citizen" of the United States, the only class of people constitutionally eligible for the presidency. (The Founding Fathers didn't want their newly independent nation to be taken over by foreigners on the sly.)
What's a "natural born citizen"? The Constitution doesn't say, but the Framers; understanding, combined with statutes enacted by the First Congress, indicate that the phrase means both birth abroad to American parents - in a manner regulated by federal law - and birth within the nation's territory regardless of parental citizenship. The Supreme Court has confirmed that definition on multiple occasions in various contexts.
There's no ideological debate here: Harvard law professor Laurence Tribe and former solicitor general Ted Olson - who were on opposite sides in Bush v. Gore among other cases - co-authored a memorandum in March 2008 detailing the above legal explanation in the context of John McCain's eligibility. Recall that McCain - lately one of Cruz's chief antagonists - was born to U.S. citizen parents serving on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone.
In other words, anyone who is a citizen at birth - as opposed to someone who becomes a citizen later; or who isn't a citizen at all - can be president.
So the one remaining question is whether Ted Cruz was a citizen at birth. That's an easy one. The Nationality Act of 1940 outlines which children become "nationals and citizens of the United States at birth." In addition to those who are born in the United States or born outside the country to parents who were both citizens - or, interestingly, found in the United States without parents and no proof of birth elsewhere - citizenship goes to babies born to one American parent who has spent a certain number of years here.
That single-parent requirement has been amended several times, but under the law in effect between 1952 and 1986 - Cruz was born in 1970 - someone must have a citizen parent who resided in the United States for at least 10 years, including five after the age of 14, in order to be considered a natural-born citizen. Cruz's mother, Eleanor Darragh, was born in Delaware, lived most of her life in the United States, and gave birth to little Rafael Edward Cruz in her 30s. Q.E.D.
So why all the brouhaha about where Obama was born, given that there's no dispute that his mother, Ann Dunham, was a citizen? Because his mother was 18 when she gave birth to the future president in 1961 and so couldn't have met the 5-year-post-age-14 residency requirement. Had Obama been born a year later, it wouldn't have mattered whether that birth took place in Hawaii, Kenya, Indonesia, or anywhere else. (For those born since 1986, by the way, the single citizen parent must have only resided here for five years, at least two of which must be after the age of 14.)"
In short, it may be politically advantageous for Ted Cruz to renounce his Canadian citizenship before making a run at the White House, but his eligibility for that office shouldn't be in doubt. As Tribe and Olson said about McCain; and could've said about Obama, or the Mexico-born George Romney, or the Arizona-territory-born Barry Goldwater; Cruz is certainly not the hypothetical "foreigner" who John Jay and George Washington were concerned might usurp the role of Commander in Chief.
Here is how I see it, the constitution was not written by a bunch of lawyers, it was written by a group of men from every walk of life, who began the constitution: WE THE PEOPLE . . .
The constitution was written by the people for the people, not for a bunch of lawyers to twist, mangle, and distort. The constitution was written so that a person with a reasonable degree of literacy could understand it.
We, the people, do not need a bunch of lawyers to tell us what the constitution means, it is intended for us to understand it ourselves and make judgments accordingly.
So read the constitution for yourself, it can be understood. If there are a few things that are unclear, you can go back in history and figure it out. A plain reading of the constitution clearly states that neither Obama nor Cruz are eligible for the office of President, so this is a question you will have to ask yourself. Do you believe the constitution as written or not. Do you want it to be foundation document of our nation or not. Or do you want a bunch of lawyers to tell you what it means today, and then again something different tomorrow, based in expediency? In other words, does the constitution mean anything at all?
So no matter how much you like Cruz (and I like Cruz) he was born in Canada to a non-citizen father, and is not eligible. So trash the constitution once again, after Obama, and permanently open the door for President the devil knows who in the future to take control of this country and do with it, and to us, as he pleases.
Instead of being all in for Cruz, what we need to do, is to make the second focus of this campaign (after stopping this invasion our southern border) re-affirming the constitution and presidential eligibility, ensuring that never again will there be an Obama (and in the process take down everything he has done in his illegitimate presidency!)
Shout it out sista’ when that lever is pulled, we can only do so with a clear conscience if we know the truth and understand the reason it is actually true. At the moment the entire matter resembles mulligan stew or hash
But you see, we cannot have the debate. To even consider having the debate makes you as a dreaded birther. It’s true.
I have been called vile things and even had my life threatened more than once - because I am a believer in original intent. The historic meaning and intent of the Founders who wrote the Constitution, and in particular, Art. 2.
Debate must be silenced before it begins - else we look like drooling fools according to the likes of Mark Levin and some of those whose candidate was born on foreign soil. And all the while the progressives who have, for the past 35 years, been campaigning to amend Art. 2 to allow for foreign born persons to ascend to the oval office - they are watching, waiting, prodding, promoting and salivating.