Apparently, in protest of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s refusal to commute the death sentence of Crips gang founder Tookie Williams, “[l]eaders of Austria’s opposition Green Party even called for Schwarzenegger to be stripped of his Austrian citizenship.” (Here's the full article.)
I don’t often post on our blog, but in light of recent talk about amending our Constitution to allow Schwarzenegger to become the next U.S. president, I find this threat somewhat disturbing. While we can assume the best of Schwarzenegger personally to maintain his loyalties here, the Constitution and its safeguards are meant to assume the worst. I don’t think we should permit foreign nations even the possibility of wielding citizenship as a means of influencing the decisions of our elected officials. They shouldn’t have that kind of influence over any of our elected officers, let alone the president.
--Kevin
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8 comments:
I couldn't agree more. The safeguards of our Constitution were put there for a reason. As much as we might all like to think that a foreign-born individual could make a good president, the reality is that it's too big of a risk to take.
What??!! I just went to check my e-mail (where I get blog comments sent) and there was a comment from Jeanette about foreign born presidents??
At first I thought Jeanette had mistakenly posted something VERY irrelevant on my blog but I couldn't figure out how or why.
My second thought was that some unknown person had hijacked my blog and I wondered how they got my password.
It NEVER occurred to me that Kevin would post something. Sorry, Kev, I thought I could predict your every move. I guess I was wrong. Dead wrong.
I'm glad when Kevin posts. That was the original goal of this blog - a two-person blog. Besides, he has much better insight than me anyway. :)
-Amy
I don't get it. Why do liberals want Tookie to live and Terri to die?
LOL - yeah, you probably did think I'd lost my mind....jumping from Christmas discussions to foreign born presidents....that's a big jump. :)
BTW - no ill feelings about the Christmas discussion - it was a lively discussion to be sure.
I wonder if foreign born presidents would be in favor of closing church on Christmas day....hee hee - okay - that's definitely beating a dead horse!
Merry Christmas!
Although Washington was technically a citizen of Great Britain when he was born, he was not foreign born. He was born in Westmoreland County, VA, within one of the original 13 colonies.
Kevin - I'm sure I should know this, but I can't remember....weren't there a few presidents who were born in England? Isn't that why there is a provision in the Constitution for those who weren't physically born in the US at the the time the constitution was signed? "No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States." (Article 2)
Actually, every single U.S. president has been born here. I think that the Constitution was written that way because there was the possibility that someone could be elected in the early years who was born abroad. But that never actually transpired.
Here's the listing of the U.S. Presidents in chronological order with their place of birth:
Washington - Westmoreland County, Virginia
Adams - Braintree, Massachusetts
Jefferson - Shadwell, Virginia
Madison - Port Conway, Virginia
Monroe - Westmoreland County, Virginia
Adams, J.Q. - Braintree, Massachusetts
Jackson - Waxhaw, South Carolina
Van Buren - Kinderhook, New York
Harrison, W. H. - Charles City County, Virginia
Tyler - Greenway, Virginia
Polk - Mecklinburg, North Carolina
Taylor - Montebello, Virginia
Fillmore - Cayuga County, New York
Pierce - Hillsboro, New Hampshire
Buchanan - Mercersburg, Pennsylvania
Lincoln - Hodgenville, Kentucky
Johnson, A. - Raleigh, North Carolina
Grant - Point Pleasant, Ohio
Hayes - Delaware, Ohio
Garfield - Orange, Ohio
Arthur - Fairfield, Vermont
Cleveland - Caldwell, New Jersey
Harrison, B. - North Bend, Ohio
Cleveland - Caldwell, New Jersey
McKinley - Niles, Ohio
Roosevelt, T. - New York, New York
Taft - Cincinnati, Ohio
Wilson - Staunton, Virginia
Harding - Blooming Grove, Ohio
Coolidge - Plymouth, Vermont
Roosevelt, F. - Hyde Park, New York
Truman - Lamar, Missouri
Eisenhower - Denison, Texas
Kennedy - Brookline, Massachusetts
Johnson, L. - Gillespie County, Texas
Nixon - Yorba Linda, California
Ford - Omaha, Nebraska
Carter - Plains, Georgia
Reagan - Tampico, Illinois
Bush, G.H.W. - Milton, Massachusetts
Clinton - Hope, Arkansas
Bush, G.W. - New Haven, Connecticut
Yeah - I just always assumed that because the provision was there that some of them were born elsewhere. Interesting - cool little presidential trivia - I'll have to test my family at Christmas and see if they know the answer. :)
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