Only US-born folk allowed to run for president

[StinkyPinky]

Am I the only one that has problems with this? Why are US Citizens born outside the US not allowed to run for this one office? If you're a US Citizen you're a US Citizen...period.

Now if people aren't happy with the idea of a non-us born president then they can easily show this at the voting booth, but the very idea that some citizens are barred from public sector jobs seems counter to what this very nation is all about. We're all equal....except we're not. Wth?



Locked - Incorrect information in the OP regarding what citizens are eligible for President


EK
Admin

 

[jlee]

US citizens born outside the US are allowed to run for President (e.g. John McCain).

 

[StinkyPinky]

That's because he was born on a US base. They consider that US soil.

 

[Craig234]

Because we can't really trust you if you're not born here.

 

[Colt45]

Yeah, seems a bit silly to me. Shouldn't matter if you're born on mars, if the people vote for you.

 

[BoomerD]

Fuck that. America for Americans.

 

[Mixolydian]

Fuck that. America for Americans.

:thumbsup:

 

[dawp]

That's because he was born on a US base. They consider that US soil.

the only citizens not eligible to run for president are naturalized, those that became citizens and were not born to (a) us citizen(s).

 

[MarkXIX]

Because Constitutional law, that's why.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause

 

[randomrogue]

Not only can you be born outside of the USA but Americans who were born in our territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, Virgin Islands) are eligible to run as well.

You just have to be born American, 35, and have lived in the USA for 14 years.

 

[Joepublic2]

Foreign power grabs were commonly and successfully executed in Europe all the time by a foreign family that married into the native aristocracy. The natives would allow it to attempt to consolidate power, secure financing (probably for a war), or to prevent war with said foreign country, but it just as often backfired on them. In the early US there was a very real possibility of a coup being pulled off by a foreign power, and having a jus soli requirement on the highest political office of the land made it that much harder for wealthy foreigners with deep pockets to subvert the nascent US government.

 

[Jeff7]

Vaginal passage while within a particular nation's borders automatically imbues you with loyalty to that nation.

Everyone knows this.




That aside, I guess they had to come up with something to help restrict the number of people who'd be running for president. Yes, it's somewhat arbitrary...but then, any systems we come up with are going to have some arbitrary roots somewhere.

Foreign power grabs were commonly and successfully executed in Europe all the time by a foreign family that married into the native aristocracy. The natives would allow it to attempt to consolidate power, secure financing (probably for a war), or to prevent war with said foreign country, but it just as often backfired on them. In the early US there was a very real possibility of a coup being pulled off by a foreign power, and having a jus soli requirement on the highest political office of the land made it that much harder for wealthy foreigners with deep pockets to subvert the nascent US government.

Which at least serves to reduce the size of the pool of those who would do that...but it doesn't do anything to prevent it from happening domestically. :\

 

[Doppel]

It's a pretty pointless law borne from no particularly sound logic or anything else. Since people have to vote on the person it's safe to assume that a guy freshly citizened after growing up in Saudi isn't likely to win anyway, so any idea of alternative loyalty is quite silly.

It's also a law that affects virtually nobody, though. Few foreign born naturalized citizens are likely to pursue the office anyway.

 

[squirrel dog]

If you can get control over the media , you can be president , even if you were born in Kenya .

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Fuck that. America for Americans.

So you have no problems with someone from Central- or South-America becoming the President of the USA?

Edit: Oh, and I checked whether I had accidently stumbled into P&N again when I saw the topic and especially some of the replies.

 

[Craig234]

So you have no problems with someone from Central- or South-America becoming the President of the USA?

Edit: Oh, and I checked whether I had accidently stumbled into P&N again when I saw the topic and especially some of the replies.

Hugo Chavez would have been a great US President. (I'm joking mostly).

 

[randomrogue]

I'm not even sure why this is an issue to discuss. It makes perfect sense. Why in the world would we want a foreign leader? The law is already so loose that you become an American citizen at birth if you're flying over the country or if your parents enter illegally and squeeze you out on our soil. If anything they need to tighten immigration controls rather than loosen them so that more people can become President.

 

[boomerang]

Am I the only one that has problems with this? Why are US Citizens born outside the US not allowed to run for this one office? If you're a US Citizen you're a US Citizen...period.

Now if people aren't happy with the idea of a non-us born president then they can easily show this at the voting booth, but the very idea that some citizens are barred from public sector jobs seems counter to what this very nation is all about. We're all equal....except we're not. Wth?

Hey, just wondering, what you were planning on doing this summer vacation? School's out pretty soon!

 

[shortylickens]

That's because he was born on a US base. They consider that US soil.

Not automatically. It has to be purchased or leased by the US government.
The base in Iceland is not American except for one small little circle near HQ where they raise the flag. Thats it.

China Lake is California property on loan to the federal government.

Theres a few others too.

 

[JTsyo]

Vaginal passage while within a particular nation's borders automatically imbues you with loyalty to that nation.

Everyone knows this.




That aside, I guess they had to come up with something to help restrict the number of people who'd be running for president. Yes, it's somewhat arbitrary...but then, any systems we come up with are going to have some arbitrary roots somewhere.




Which at least serves to reduce the size of the pool of those who would do that...but it doesn't do anything to prevent it from happening domestically. :\

If Germany had this law then Hilter wouldn't have become chancellor and then President.

I think it's a reasonable requirement to ensure the the President doesn't have loyalties to another country too.

 

[xBiffx]

It's a pretty pointless law borne from no particularly sound logic or anything else. Since people have to vote on the person it's safe to assume that a guy freshly citizened after growing up in Saudi isn't likely to win anyway, so any idea of alternative loyalty is quite silly.

It's also a law that affects virtually nobody, though. Few foreign born naturalized citizens are likely to pursue the office anyway.

j/k :whiste:

 

[Jeffg010]

With all the Mexicans invading the USA all it would take is one rich one to promise the world to them and you could of had the possibility of non born American as president. 50 years from now they could have enough vetoing power to do it.

 

[fskimospy]

Natural born citizen means citizen at birth, and you can absolutely be a US citizen at birth even if you aren't born on US soil.

OP is factually wrong. There is no requirement to be born in the US to run for president.

 

[rudder]

Thankfully most of the U.S. citizens born to Chinese parents on birthing tours are in it just for the government benefits... not to be president.

 

[Moonbeam]

Only this wise proviso by our forefathers has saved us from having some Kenyan Muslim socialist from taking over the executive branch of the government.