I knew it would happen eventually and the bleating has already begun. Why oh why, they whine with their face buried in their hands, can’t a naturalized immigrant run for President? Heavens, they exclaim, naturalized citizens have every other right and duty how can we prevent them from aspiring to the highest office in the land?
Well folks I gotta say, I’m not at all in favor of amending the Constitution to allow foreign-born Presidents but, for a change, I can understand the argument. I am a firm believer that most immigrants are the best people to talk to if you really want to hear why this is so great a country. They chose to come here, they voluntarily renounced all foreign allegiances and took upon themselves the duties of an American citizen. It’s a big step to go from being at worst a subject and at best the coddled child of a semi-socialist nanny-state to being a full partner in the life of a nation and having to make it on your own hook. Still, I don’t think naturalized citizens should be able to become President and generally for the same reasons as the Founding Fathers.
Sorry kids, but I don’t much care how long you’ve lived in America – unless you came here as an infant with little or no knowledge of your original homeland you’re always going to carry a torch for home. How often do you read of new citizens who still fly the flags of their home countries? Hell, I have an Irish flag in my living room and my family’s been around for a minimum of four generations. Not to mention that people might come here, take citizenship and still be entwined with their home country and potentially have relationships back home that could be exploited by those who wish to do us harm.
The Founding Fathers had a different set of reasons for putting the native clause in the Constitution but there are still innumerable new reasons to bow to their ancient wisdom. One of the beauties of America is that we always expect the next generation to do better than ours, why can’t immigrants live that dream and work to see their native-born children rise to the heights of leadership?