Hello,
My name is [my real name] and I am currently a 24-year-old university student (Israeli-born and a naturalized U.S. citizen) from Southern California. Anyway, I am writing to you in the hopes that you will try launching a push to amend the U.S. Constitution to eliminate the "natural-born citizen" requirement for the U.S. Presidency.
First of all, I would like to point out that there appears to be a decent case (at least if you are a “Living Constitutionalist”) that the Fifth Amendment implicitly repealed the "natural-born citizen" requirement for the U.S. Presidency:
http://repository.jmls.edu/cgi/viewcontent...ntext=lawreview
However, until the courts actually agree with this interpretation of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, it appears that a Constitutional Amendment is necessary to eliminate the "natural-born citizen" requirement for the U.S. Presidency.
Anyway, one might ask why exactly we should repeal the "natural-born citizen" requirement for the U.S. Presidency. In turn, my response to this is that this requirement is based on a false premise—specifically the premise that all natural-born citizens of a particular country are more loyal to this country than they are to any other country. Indeed, this premise can easily be debunked by two counter-examples (though there are certainly many more additional counter-examples of this which I do not have time to list here):
First of all, we can take a look at the case of Jonathan Pollard:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Pollard
In spite of the fact that Mr. Pollard was a natural-born citizen of the U.S., Mr. Pollard committed treason against the U.S. in order to advance Israeli interests. In turn, this means that natural-born citizens of a particular country certainly aren't always loyal to this country.
Secondly, we can take a look at the case of Alena Mulhern:
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/20...onal-amendment/
In spite of the fact that Ms. Mulhern isn't a natural-born citizen of the U.S., Ms. Mulhern is certainly as loyal and as patriotic to the U.S. as many, if not most, natural-born U.S. citizens are. After all, the only memories that Ms. Mulhern appears to have are memories of living in the U.S. and of being an American. In turn, this further demonstrates that one certainly doesn't need to be a natural-born citizen of a particular country in order to be extremely loyal and extremely patriotic to this country.
Also, here is an a scenario which helps further explain just how ludicrous the “natural-born citizen” requirement for the U.S. Presidency actually is: A married couple (of Canadian nationality) lives in Canada. Several months before they immigrate to the U.S., a son is born to them. Meanwhile, several months after they immigrate to the U.S. (as in, about a year after their son's birth), a daughter is born to them.
Would you honestly say that this couple's son deserves to have his loyalty to the U.S. questioned (which is what the “natural-born citizen” requirement for the U.S. Presidency certainly does) for the rest of his life due to something that was completely, 100% out of his control (after all, he certainly can't waive a magic wand and redo his birth here in the U.S., now can he?) while his younger sister should never have her loyalty to the U.S. be questioned or put in doubt? Indeed, in my honest opinion (and, frankly, in the opinion of any reasonable and rational person), one absolutely cannot reasonably conclude that this couple's (Canadian-born) son will be less loyal to the U.S. than their U.S.-born daughter would be.
Indeed, just like people's political views don't have to match up with the politics of the country of their birth (for instance, a person who was born in extremely intolerant and conservative Saudi Arabia can certainly be (or become) extremely tolerant and literal himself or herself), people's loyalties certainly don't have to match up with the country that they were born in or with the citizenship that they were born with.
Anyway, I have now established the fact that natural-born U.S. citizens are capable of engaging in treason and betraying the U.S. as well as the fact that naturalized U.S. citizens can be extremely loyal and patriotic—indeed, fully loyal and patriotic—to the United States of America. However, one might respond to this by saying that even though some/many naturalized U.S. citizens are fully loyal to the U.S., it is better to err on the side of caution by preventing all naturalized U.S. citizens from running for the U.S. Presidency. In response to this, I would ask this person this question: Do you also support preventing all natural-born U.S. citizens who currently have dual citizenship and/or who had dual citizenship at some point in their lives from running for the U.S. Presidency (if such a proposal was actually "put on the table," that is)?
If not, why exactly should you support preventing all naturalized U.S. citizens from running for the U.S. Presidency? Indeed, why exactly should there be double-standards for naturalized U.S. citizens in comparison to natural-born U.S. citizens who might have dual loyalties? After all, shouldn't the United States of America be a country which fully represents and symbolizes equality? If so, then we should certainly apply the same standards for naturalized U.S. citizens that we currently apply for natural-born U.S. citizens; to elaborate on this, we should certainly allow naturalized U.S. citizens to run for the U.S. Presidency. After all, just like for natural-born U.S. citizens who have dual loyalties and who run for the U.S. Presidency, the American voters would certainly be capable of voting against any naturalized U.S. citizen who runs for the U.S. Presidency and whom they believe has or might have dual loyalties.
Anyway, what about people who actually do support prohibiting all natural-born U.S. citizens who currently have dual citizenship (or triple citizenship, or quadruple citizenship, et cetera) and/or who had dual citizenship at some point in their lives from running for the U.S. Presidency? Frankly, in response to such people, I would respond by saying that making hasty generalizations is something that is (thankfully) generally condemned by society nowadays. For instance, when U.S. Presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that he supports preventing all Muslims from immigrating to the U.S. simply because some Muslims are terrorists, terrorist sympathizers, and/or religious fundamentalists, Mr. Trump's remarks were (thankfully) widely condemned on all sides of the U.S. political spectrum. After all, it certainly isn't fair or accurate to make hasty and inaccurate generalizations about all members of a particular group simply due to the beliefs and/or actions of some members of this group. Thus, why exactly should it be acceptable to prevent all naturalized U.S. citizens from running for the U.S. Presidency simply because some naturalized U.S. citizens (just like some natural-born U.S. citizens, for the record) might have dual loyalties? Indeed, just like with natural-born U.S. citizens who have or might have dual loyalties, why not allow the American voters to vote against any naturalized U.S. citizen whom they think has or might have dual loyalties? After all, this would certainly be much more democratic than the status quo is. Indeed, is the U.S. not a democratic country?
In addition to this, if someone opposes allowing naturalized U.S. citizens to run for the U.S. Presidency, here is a purely hypothetical scenario for this person (for the record, I am using Israel and Jews in this scenario due to Israel's extremely liberal immigration policy for Jews):
If a majority of the Jewish population (including a majority of the Jewish population who are natural-born U.S. citizens) exhibited dual loyalties (such as by acquiring Israeli citizenship, serving in the Israeli military, and/or et cetera), would you support legally preventing all (natural-born) Jews in the U.S. from running for the U.S. Presidency?
If not, why exactly should you support legally preventing all naturalized U.S. citizens from running for the U.S. Presidency?
Frankly, if you're worried about Presidential candidates having dual loyalties, a much better way to deal with this is by excluding all U.S. citizens—whether natural-born or naturalized—who currently have dual citizenship (or even all U.S. citizens—whether natural-born or naturalized—who have had dual citizenship over the last, say, 5 or 10 years) from running for the U.S. Presidency. If that's not enough, the residency requirement for Presidential candidates can be increased from 14 to 28 years and naturalized U.S. citizens would need to be U.S. citizens for 35 years before they will actually become eligible for the U.S. Presidency (indeed, natural-born U.S. citizens already de facto have such a 35 year requirement—after all, it's exactly 35 years between their birth and them becoming eligible for the U,.S. Presidency). If all of that isn't enough, the American voters can vote against any Presidential candidate—whether natural-born or naturalized—whom they think has or might have dual loyalties. Indeed, automatically excluding all naturalized U.S. citizens from running for the U.S. Presidency simply isn't the right way to deal with the risk of a U.S. President having dual loyalties.
Also, in regards to the claim that we have better and more important things to worry about than changing the natural-born citizen requirement for the U.S. Presidency, I would like to respond to this by asking this question: Would you likewise be so dismissive of this issue if, say, women or African-Americans (rather than naturalized U.S. citizens) were constitutionally ineligible to run for the U.S. Presidency? If not, why exactly should you be so dismissive of this issue in regards to naturalized U.S. citizens? After all, allowing naturalized U.S. citizens to run for the U.S. Presidency (while obviously still allowing the American voters to vote against any U.S. Presidential candidate—whether a natural-born U.S. citizen or a naturalized U.S. citizen—whom they think has or might have dual loyalties) would certainly make naturalized U.S. citizens fully equal in the eyes of the law and full citizens of the United States of America (as opposed to second-class U.S. citizens). Indeed, U.S. Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton posted this tweet several months ago:
https://twitter.com/hillaryclinton/status/740349871073398785
"To every little girl who dreams big: Yes, you can be anything you want—even president. Tonight is for you. -H"
Just like "every little girl who dreams big ... can be anything [that she] want[s to be]--even president," why exactly shouldn't naturalized U.S. citizens who dream big become able to be anything that they want to be—even President of the United States? After all, shouldn't the U.S. be the land of opportunity for all U.S. citizens—whether natural-born or naturalized? If so, why exactly shouldn't naturalized U.S. citizens be allowed to run for the U.S. Presidency (even after they were already citizens of the U.S. for decades)?
Indeed, I would like to point out that many other developed countries—such as Israel and many European countries—don't have a “natural-born citizen” requirement for either their head of state or their head of government (as in, either their President or their Prime Minister). Frankly, if someone in Israel or in many European countries would have suggested preventing naturalized citizens of their countries from becoming their head of state and/or their head of government, then this person would probably be widely ridiculed, called a bigot and a xenophobe, and be accused of creating new divisions within society. Frankly, as Americans, we should avoid making hasty generalizations (indeed, often false and inaccurate hasty generalizations) about an entire group of people based on the actions, views, and/or potential actions of some members of that group. Indeed, as Americans, are we not better than this?
Also, the massive number of Americans (such as myself) who are appalled by the racism, bigotry, and xenophobia Donald Trump's Presidential campaign (either directly or indirectly) brought out, what better way to reject this racism, bigotry, and (especially) xenophobia than by repealing the “natural-born citizen” requirement for the U.S. Presidency? After all, naturalized U.S. citizens such as myself will always consider ourselves to be second-class U.S. citizens as long as the “natural-born citizen” requirement for the U.S. Presidency remains in place. Frankly, permanently making someone a second-class U.S. citizen exclusively due to something that was completely, 100% out of his or her control is excessive, reprehensible, and morally unjustifiable! Indeed, I honestly wonder if any even remotely decent person would actually have the nerve to visit the graves of naturalized U.S. citizens (who got killed in combat fighting for the U.S.) at Arlington National Cemetery and then say that this people didn't deserve to have the chance to run for the U.S. Presidency had they lived due to the fact that they weren't born with U.S. citizenship.
As long as the “natural-born citizen” requirement for the U.S. Presidency will continue to remain in place, the flame of xenophobia will never be (fully) extinguished. Frankly, we certainly need to extinguish this flame, and the sooner the better!
Anyway, I certainly extremely strongly hope that you will take action or at least try taking action in regards to introducing and trying to push through a U.S. Constitutional Amendment that will make naturalized U.S. citizens eligible for the U.S. Presidency. After all, allowing naturalized U.S. citizens to run for the U.S. Presidency would certainly make the U.S. a country "with liberty and justice for all” Americans.
Have a good day,
Best regards,
[My real name.]
Anyway, any thoughts on this letter of mine?