As it stands right now, if you are not a native-born citizen, you can not be President of the United States.

Lately, because our Governor is actually doing a good job and getting things accomplished (unlike the previous sloth we had) there has been talk about amending the Constitution so that someone like him (or her) could be elected Prez.

Utah Senator Orrin Hatch in July introduced a bill that would allow anyone who has lived in the United States for 20 years to be eligible to hold the office of the president.

Arnold is in fact, to the surprise of many, doing a great job, and has essentially put an end to partisan politics. He's doing what he said he would and, just like a movie action hero, he's kickin butt and taking names. Even those who were vehemently against him in the beginning are grudgingly admitting he's getting the job done.

So . . . if a politician in lower office is effective, and he happens to be born in Austria but has been a citizen for over 20 years, should he be allowed to be President?

 

I heard a brief blurb about this last night during President Reagan's funeral... very interesting topic.

 

Getting back to the spelling thread, " if'n yain't frum cheer, ya kant bees Prezidant. Whad if'n sum feriner hached a plot un got sum sekret ajent elicked?"

Seriously, I've always though a citizen should have all rights of a "citizen". If you're good enough to be a citizen, hold a job, and support the tax base, then you're good enough to be the President if the popular vote and the electorial vote agree.

 

Imagine the marketing advertisements to "re-elect" Arnold for president, they would be priceless.
Arnold could mutter "I'll Be Back" in his heavy Austrian accent whilst wearing the Uncle Same hat.

Seriously, America is not "my" country, but I feel a close affection towards it the same way I do towards a favorite relative I see at the occasional family dinner.

The 20 year proposal seems like a good idea, and I'm sure they could build in enough safe-guards to make sure some wacko from Canada with a hidden agenda doesn't become president.

I would vote for Arnold if he ran for Prime Minister, so if you guys don't want him, ship him up here where 70% of all his money will go towards taxes to support all the lazy good for nothing welfare scumbags.

 

Two things to think about as far as the office of President goes and his powers:


1. He can call on the military at any time to go anywhere in the world and engage an enemy. (He can start a war anywhere at anytime with no say from Congress)

2. He can grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States. (He could let any criminal and/or prisoners go who had committed a crime against us, like all those now in Cuba for terrorism)


* Those are from Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution (not word for word)


I think Arnold would make an excellent President and personal would love to see that one day.

I just point out the two things above as that may have been what was on the minds of those who initial wrote the United States Constitution.

Another thing to consider as well is any change to the Constitution should be well thought out and debated for as long as necessary (even if it is years and years) to insure the change will have no harsh effects on the country. You don’t want people in power getting the idea that the Constitution is up for grabs and easy to amend for what ever “feels right” at the time.

It is one thing to amend the Constitution to correct past wrongs such as slavery, civil rights, women’s right to vote etc, because that had a very big affect on America and our survival as a nation. Not letting someone who is not naturally born in America become President will never cause any harm, nor put our survival as a nation at risk.

Again, I think Arnold would make an excellent President because he has a lot of President Reagan’s characteristics and I would support him for President if it were possible by the Constitution however I personally wouldn’t want to see an amendment to the Constitution at this time without a lot more thought behind it.

I further think that the 20 years being floated around as a minimum, should there be an amendment, is much to short a time. I would say, if an amendment was going to happen, that perhaps the person must have lived in the United States for a minimum of 80% of their life. President Reagan was 73 I believe when he took office so that would have meant he would have had to live here on this soil for at least 57 years, or arrived here and become a citizen when he was 16. I see nothing wrong with that, otherwise he could have arrived here and became a citizen at 53 which is enough time for someone to have formed an opinion on what they think is right and wrong based on their 53 years in another country like Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, France, Germany and the list goes on.

Many of those nations, specifically with Arab populations, could be hell bent on wanting to become President of the United States with our powerful military and all our nukes and decides it’s a good time to settle a grudge against another country based on hundreds of year’s religious differences…

So, even though Arnold would make an excellent President an amendment can NOT be for Arnold alone, once it is there it is for anyone who wishes to pursue it…

 

Excellent post buddy, very well written.

 

01 quote".....I would say, if an amendment was going to happen, that perhaps the person must have lived in the United States for a minimum of 80% of their life......."


I agree with that except it would have to be the LAST 80% before being elected before I would go for it. Otherwise we may get some stupid convert.

 

The minimum age for president is 35. I think that if they change the Consitution to accept a foriegn born candidate, 35 years of continuous and current citizenship and residency should be required.

 

I would vote fore arnold but that would be so darn funny.

31C

 

Leave it as is. Its the FRIGGEN constitution for Pete's sake. You don't change it so ONE person can run for prez. Personally, if we can't find any qualified folks that are born in the states, then we are in SERIOUS trouble...

 

If you're not born on American soil, you should never be President. It should also go for members of Congress, but it doesn't. They even had to Amend(water down) the Constitution to make the federal income tax legal. I personally never would vote for someone not born here(including Arnold) if the Amendment would pass.

Burt: I believe President Reagan was 69 when he took office. The oldest President. Best President of the 20th century.

 

Thats funny b/c our gov. is from canada and is trying to do the same as Gov. S.

 

no way.

i had a whole big thing typed in here, backed it out and am just going to post this:

the residents of the state of new york elected hillary clinton to represent them.

she might as well have come from the moon as she did from arkansas.

i still cant figure that one out.

 

Can anyone provide a reasonable argument why a foreign born individual cannot run for President?
Let me rephrase:
Can anyone provide a reasonable argument why the constitution should not be changed to allow a foreign born individual to run for President?

Seriously, there's some smart people on this board, and I would love to hear a valid, sound reason that supports the decision not to amend the constitution.

"Because" is not an answer.

Regards

 

I'd like to hear a reasonable argument for why we should can it. Ah-nuld isn't an answer.

There are 293,000,000+ people in this country. Granted not all are US-born... but with so many folks, can't we get a qualified person to run for office? Why must be open the most prestigious office in the land to someone born outside the US? Running for President isn't our RIGHT, its a privilage (sp?). Sorry kids, one of the qualifications for this privilage is you must be born on our soil. Suck it up and deal with it.

Let a foriegner be prez is like letting your pure bred show dog breed with the mutt down the street. You just don't do it.