TheProgressivePatriot
Platinum Member
When Trump started to attack Cruz for not being a natural born citizen and therefor ineligible to be president, my first reaction was -despite my loathing for the man and fear of a Cruz presidency- that it is a cheap shot. Of course he is a citizen, I said. His mother was an American Citizen and even though he was undisputedly born in Canada, it is understood that she conveyed her American citizenship to him. As far as I was concerned, “natural born” was ever specifically defined by the founders and therefore there are only two kinds of citizenship…..those who are citizens at birth and those who are naturalized with the former being eligible for the presidency and the latter group not being eligible.
So, while I chose not to pursue it, I did have to muse about the thought of President Obama quietly enjoying the irony. My first inclination that maybe there was some substance to the claim by Trump was when a report surfaced that raised the question of whether or not his mother was in fact an American citizen at the time of his birth in 1970. (We know, and it is undisputed, that his father was not) It seems that both of his parents appeared on the Canadian voter registration rolls around that time, and that you must be a Canadian citizen to vote. So it is possible that his mother relinquished her American Citizenship at some point, and possible before his birth, which of course would be a game changer.
But regardless of his mother’s citizenship at the time of his birth, it is in fact a good deal more complicated than that, as is brought out in the articles below. Keep in mind that this is strictly a legal question and should not be about politics. The fact is that he is an American and there is no reason to believe that he has any foreign loyalties which was the fear of the founders of our country. He came to the United States at the age of four and his situation does not affect his eligibility in any substantive way. It is wholly a technical matter. However, imagine the turmoil that we would experience if he were elected president and subsequently, a viable challenge to his eligibility was mounted. Hell, it is already causing some degree of turmoil, as though there was not enough already.
Finally, I will say that I would still rather not go down this road and indeed it is not necessary to defeat Cruz. There already is more than enough to disqualify him as “the leader of the free world” and even as a human being….but the issue of eligibility is before us, so let’s have at it.
Here are a few interesting articles to kick it off. Please read them in their entirety before commenting in the hope that this can be an informed and intelligent exchange on the subject. Again, to be clear, I am not personally taking a position on his eligibility. It is an open discussion that should be about that and that only, as opposed to his politics.
And then there is this
And there is more. His situation is very different from that of others who the birthers have targeted, namely Obama and Rubio…….
So, while I chose not to pursue it, I did have to muse about the thought of President Obama quietly enjoying the irony. My first inclination that maybe there was some substance to the claim by Trump was when a report surfaced that raised the question of whether or not his mother was in fact an American citizen at the time of his birth in 1970. (We know, and it is undisputed, that his father was not) It seems that both of his parents appeared on the Canadian voter registration rolls around that time, and that you must be a Canadian citizen to vote. So it is possible that his mother relinquished her American Citizenship at some point, and possible before his birth, which of course would be a game changer.
But regardless of his mother’s citizenship at the time of his birth, it is in fact a good deal more complicated than that, as is brought out in the articles below. Keep in mind that this is strictly a legal question and should not be about politics. The fact is that he is an American and there is no reason to believe that he has any foreign loyalties which was the fear of the founders of our country. He came to the United States at the age of four and his situation does not affect his eligibility in any substantive way. It is wholly a technical matter. However, imagine the turmoil that we would experience if he were elected president and subsequently, a viable challenge to his eligibility was mounted. Hell, it is already causing some degree of turmoil, as though there was not enough already.
Finally, I will say that I would still rather not go down this road and indeed it is not necessary to defeat Cruz. There already is more than enough to disqualify him as “the leader of the free world” and even as a human being….but the issue of eligibility is before us, so let’s have at it.
Here are a few interesting articles to kick it off. Please read them in their entirety before commenting in the hope that this can be an informed and intelligent exchange on the subject. Again, to be clear, I am not personally taking a position on his eligibility. It is an open discussion that should be about that and that only, as opposed to his politics.
And then there is this
And there is more. His situation is very different from that of others who the birthers have targeted, namely Obama and Rubio…….
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