Would you go for this trade?
 

We'll help repeal the "no third term" constitutional amendment, so Slick Willie can have another chance.

You help repeal the "no foreign born" constitutional amendment, so Arnold can whip his fanny and Hillary's too.

Who is we?
Who is you?

I thought repealing "no foreign born" was pretty much bipartisan- afterall, there's a governor in Michigan who would make a great first female president.

I thought the no third term limit was on consecutive terms?

Gonna have to check on that. It is true for the governors of some states, but I don't think it is with the President.

ETA this from the Encarta Encyclopedia:

"The XXII Amendment of the Constitution states a person can only serve two terms as president."

There is no mention of consecutive.

nope. I'm hoping intertia will keep both those laws in place.

I think that both laws should stay in place. Think of this scenerio: What if there was a foreign born person who came over here and was a sweet talker and was able to gain popularity but really had a secret agenda against the U.S. and wanted to destroy our gov. Could be a long stretch, but with all of the anti-americans I wouldn't be surprised if one of them came up with that idea.

She's losing support quickly as she's starting to look like a Republican in Democrat's clothes... And I totally supported her in the election too. <sigh>

Dee

ETA: I forgot to comment on the other part. I think, with security and terrorist concerns that have come up since 9/11 that it would be more risky than ever to allow a foreign born person to become President. There has been a lot of talk about sleeper terrorist cells and I just don't think this is the time to reconsider that particular issue.

Then foreign adoptees will never be able to be president.

p.s. I hope you don't mind a non-US citizen's input

I definitely think foreign born people should be permitted to run for president, provided that they have been United States citizens for a set amount of time. There are plenty of people with American born parents who just happened to be born out of the country and therefore could never run. I also know many many smart people who moved here with their parents when they were little and are great, intelligent citizens. (The validictorian and salutatorian of my high school class were both Indian born). I feel that being born on American soil in no way makes you a good candidate. It should only matter how LONG you've been an American citizen. Your birth place is totally out of your control!

Lieberman called McCain "brother"
 

Are they in the same fraternity?

What if the sleeper cell consist of individuals born in the country?

Good point.

Are you kidding?!

Both of these laws are there for a reason. There are a lot of really BAD laws I'd change before I'd touch either of these.

I say yes to the 3rd term ammendment for Bill to run again but the only bad thing is that George could run again...and I don't want that personally.

I'm pretty sure this isn't true - anyone want to verify?

I always thought that people born to American citizens outside of the country were granted full US citizenship (ie military parents, etc).

I'm not 100% sure, but I believe that the child of American citizens is considered to be born an American citizen regardless of where the birth took place. Can anyone confirm this?

RC & KR,

I agree. Children born out of the US to American citizens are automatically US citizens. It's called the principle of jus sanguinis, which holds that the country of citizenship of a child is the same as that of his/her parents.

Link

According to Ben's guide to the US Government for Kids that is correct.


eta: i was beaten to posting information, but i still like Ben's guide, so i'm leaving it up.

Lol. Ben's guide looks like a more watered-down explanation. The link I found was just the first thing that came up under Google that I could use to post.

My aunt was born in Algeria (Africa) and spent most of her life in Luxembourg. My grandparents are American. Because of the laws in each country, she had to decide by the age of 16 in which country she wanted to declare citizenship.

Some people have a choice. I wonder if you choose a country other than the States, would you be able to switch it back in the future and still run for president?

(No need to answer - I know it's a tangent - but it's something that popped into my head.)

I just looked at this the other day and if I recall correctly...

To be President you must have been born in the U.S. OR be an US Citizen in which case at least one of your parents has to have been a US Citizen.

If you are a US Citizen by birth (born outside the country to US citizen(s) you must have lived in the US for the past 14 years (I think it was 14). You must also be at least thirty-five years of age.

I didn't look it up again, but am fairly sure that is accurate.

(Assuming it is, I wonder if your parents were of differing citizenship (ie mom is American, dad is German or whatever) which may give you dual citizenship -- can someone with dual citizenship be President?

I don't think the United States actually formally recognizes dual citizenship.

I think both of those laws are in place for a reason, and I would prefer for them to remain in place.

That said, I don't really think that Arnold could win a national election -- at least not in 2008. Perhaps in some later point in his political career.

I was thinking after I posted that you may be right about that.