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Originally posted by JBX
Yes, the President should be born in the U.S.. For goodness sake you just don't fuck around with the Constitution. Period.
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Except that the constitution, the thing you "just don't fuck around with," has been amended more than twenty times (I don't recall how many, I'm not an American!). The law must change to face a changing world!
Or, in a phrase more cheesy, perfection is not a destination, it is a path...
Quote:
Originally posted by maximusveritas
yeah, there's no real reason to change it. In fact, it makes more sense now than it did then. The only reason some want to change it is so Arnold can be president. To change the Constitution for the sake of one man seems very wrong to me.
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I'm very curious to know why you think this "makes more sense now than it did then." Like I have said before, the fact that they want to change the law so that Arnold can get into office (something I do not dispute) doesn't change the fact that the law was wrong to begin with.
Quote:
Originally posted by guthmund
I think of it more as a "promoting from within" kind of idea. If there's going to be a new President, I'd like him to be an American.
I think a lot of people would have a hard time supporting a candidate from another country, regardless of how long he/she has been here. It's nationalism and it isn't going away anytime soon.
That being said, I don't think it matters. The American people have yet to put a woman or a minority candidate in the Oval Office, so I think we're all rushing the gun to get Gov. Arnold in the race. It doesn't matter that he's a white affluent male, he is still a "foreigner" in the eyes of many and it's his accent, not his birth country, that's going to keep him out of the White House.
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Of all the responses, this is quite possibly the most offensive.
First of all, you say "if there's going to be a new president, I'd like him to be an American?" We
are talking about Americans! You think being born in the US makes you more American? That you're a first class citizen and that others are second class citizens, who can vote but still don't get as many rights as you do? Doesn't that sound wrong?
Let me ask you this, do you think the children of naturalized citizens are more trustworthy than their parents?
Secondly, sure, nationalism isn't going away any time soon. The people might not vote for someone if they weren't born in the US and that's their right. If that's the case, then you didn't need this stupid law. But if they wanted to vote for a naturalized citizen, why shouldn't they? The people have spoken!
Racism isn't going away soon, either. Should you keep all your racist laws?
Thirdly, if it doesn't matter, then there's no point in keeping this law. It's like saying, "ah, it doesn't matter that there's a corporate policy that no black person can be president of this company 'cause it's not like we would have let him in, anyways."
You shouldn't institutionalize your prejudices!