inside Alan's cluttered head
politics
Government: local, state, national.
Born in the USA
4We can all thank Bruce Springsteen for planting the idea in our heads that a person has to be born in the United States in order to be eligible to become president.
Article II of the US Constitution clearly states the requirements, that a president must be “a natural born Citizen”. Nowhere does it state that the person must be born in the United States. It is true that most people who are born in the US are granted citizenship at birth. It is also true that people who are born outside of the US, from one or more US citizen parents, can also be granted US citizenship at birth.
When my daughter was born in Singapore, many of my friends made the comment that “she can never become president”. However, shortly after her birth, the US Consulate in Singapore presented us with a “Consular Report of Birth of a Citizen of the United States of America”, or Form FS-240. This form clearly declares that my daughter was born a US Citizen, and it is recognized by the US government as proof.
I bring this up because of the current scuttlebutt, claiming that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, and therefore can not legitimately act as president. I am not going to get into that argument.
But I do want to clarify that being born in the US is not a requirement for citizenship, and it is not a requirement for becoming president.
I can only hope that Audrey has this same problem in 30 years.
Snow-bama
0Today was dominated by two events.
Locally, we woke up to find the ground covered with three inches of snow. Our girls have not experienced too many snow days… the few times it has snowed in recent years, we only got a light dusting. This time, we had enough to enjoy a snowball fight and some disc sledding in our back yard.
On a national scale, we enjoyed watching President Obama’s inauguration (and equally as important, the orderly end of the Bush regime). Our new president had some powerful words to mark the event. For me, the most memorable line of his speech was: “As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.” I welcome our new president, and I look forward to participating in a new America.