Ravenscroft
Banned
amazing Republican facts
For you devotees of Twitter & Facebook & all that, here's some surprising stuff that doesn't get discussed much in the media.
Did anyone here ever learn anything in school about the Constitution of the United States? If so, can you state the qualifications to be President? There's only three: be at least 35 years of age, be a "natural-born citizen," & have resided within the U.S. for the previous 14 years. (I always forget #3.
)
That "natural-born citizen" part has been argued over the years. The strict interpretation is that this can only be met if a person is born within the U.S. to parents who are citizens. While that second part has been repeatedly beaten back since the 1800s, it refuses to die, being the basis for Strunk v. N.Y. State Board of Elections (2102), wherein the meathead plaintiff demanded that Barack Obama be removed from the ballot because his father wasn't born in the U.S.
The court responded that this interpretation has never been upheld, & that Obama in fact the sixth POTUS with one or two non-citizen parents.
Your tax money at work, in support of insane Republicans.
________________
And in this context, let's not forget the weird Right Wingnut conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship, which since 2008 have become voluminous enough to have not one but TWO extensive Wikipedia articles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_presidential_eligibility_litigation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories
These are still actually being pursued, in hopes that any decisions made during Obama's tenure can be instantly voided.
Your tax money at work, in support of insane Republicans.
________________
There have been two major modern efforts to in fact amend the Constitution to allow (surprise) Rightist Germans to run for President as Republicans.
(Well, to be fair: Bavaria & Austria, respectively.) In 1974, it was Henry Kissinger. In 2003, Orrin Hatch (are all Utah Mormons just GOP tools...??) introduced a proposal with the Doublespeak title the Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment, which would have allowed ANYONE to be POTUS who'd been a naturalized citizen for at least twenty years -- this was specifically intended to clear the way for Arnold Schwarzenegger. Nobody believes me, but...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Opportunity_to_Govern_Amendment
In both cases, your tax money at work, to... well, can you see a theme here?
________________
Fast-forward to Rafael "Ted" Cruz. Bad enough that his father was born in Cuba (which, ironically enough, would have made him ineligible if the Wingnuts had won Strunk), but the old guy wasn't even naturalized as a U.S. citizen until 2005.
But Ted was born in Calgary, Alberta. By some interpretations, that would be Canada, which (shocking though this might be to many Rightists) is still NOT part of the United States.
At least sixteen ballot challenges (thus far) to Cruz's candidacy have been filed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause#Ted_Cruz
________________
Ted held dual citizenship, in Canada & the United States. This baffles me a little, as Ted's dad didn't become a naturalized Canadian until 1973, three years AFTER Ted's birth, so wasn't Ted actually a Cuban citizen...?
As a good little Red, wanting to avoid the Socialistic taint of the Great White North, Ted renounced his Canadianness, of course... as of May 14, 2014.
________________
Republicans love to screech plaintively about Rights, then make clear they ALSO must be able to deny those same Rights to "the wrong sort of people" (which they can define at will). For instance, that's why storefront churches are allowed to pop up just about anywhere, with no regard for the desires of the neighbors... unless said churches are (say) Muslim.
In similar manner, wait for the day when some non-Wingnut political group floats a well-qualified Mexico-born candidate, using the paved road still being laid down by the GOP. There WILL be much squealing!!
It could still readily happen: Hatch's "Arnold bill" was resurrected a few months ago, intending to be more touchy-feely & "bipartisan," but still the same old shit in a new box.
There's actually been rumors that the Reds are gonna keep fighting this, so that they can bring in ANY foreign-born puppet as they please.
The Weird Part is the interpretation of "natural-born" to mean something other than "native-born." One version says that the only things not "natural" would be like cloning... or maybe artificial insemination. Maybe it's just my normal paranoia, but doesn't that mean that like 99.99%+ of people on the face of the planet could aspire to be President??
Another pained interpretation focuses on the "born" part, & so only rules out anyone delivered by caesarian section.
For you devotees of Twitter & Facebook & all that, here's some surprising stuff that doesn't get discussed much in the media.
Did anyone here ever learn anything in school about the Constitution of the United States? If so, can you state the qualifications to be President? There's only three: be at least 35 years of age, be a "natural-born citizen," & have resided within the U.S. for the previous 14 years. (I always forget #3.
That "natural-born citizen" part has been argued over the years. The strict interpretation is that this can only be met if a person is born within the U.S. to parents who are citizens. While that second part has been repeatedly beaten back since the 1800s, it refuses to die, being the basis for Strunk v. N.Y. State Board of Elections (2102), wherein the meathead plaintiff demanded that Barack Obama be removed from the ballot because his father wasn't born in the U.S.
Your tax money at work, in support of insane Republicans.
________________
And in this context, let's not forget the weird Right Wingnut conspiracy theories about Obama's citizenship, which since 2008 have become voluminous enough to have not one but TWO extensive Wikipedia articles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_presidential_eligibility_litigation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories
These are still actually being pursued, in hopes that any decisions made during Obama's tenure can be instantly voided.
Your tax money at work, in support of insane Republicans.
________________
There have been two major modern efforts to in fact amend the Constitution to allow (surprise) Rightist Germans to run for President as Republicans.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_Opportunity_to_Govern_Amendment
In both cases, your tax money at work, to... well, can you see a theme here?
________________
Fast-forward to Rafael "Ted" Cruz. Bad enough that his father was born in Cuba (which, ironically enough, would have made him ineligible if the Wingnuts had won Strunk), but the old guy wasn't even naturalized as a U.S. citizen until 2005.
But Ted was born in Calgary, Alberta. By some interpretations, that would be Canada, which (shocking though this might be to many Rightists) is still NOT part of the United States.
At least sixteen ballot challenges (thus far) to Cruz's candidacy have been filed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause#Ted_Cruz
________________
Ted held dual citizenship, in Canada & the United States. This baffles me a little, as Ted's dad didn't become a naturalized Canadian until 1973, three years AFTER Ted's birth, so wasn't Ted actually a Cuban citizen...?
As a good little Red, wanting to avoid the Socialistic taint of the Great White North, Ted renounced his Canadianness, of course... as of May 14, 2014.
________________
Republicans love to screech plaintively about Rights, then make clear they ALSO must be able to deny those same Rights to "the wrong sort of people" (which they can define at will). For instance, that's why storefront churches are allowed to pop up just about anywhere, with no regard for the desires of the neighbors... unless said churches are (say) Muslim.
In similar manner, wait for the day when some non-Wingnut political group floats a well-qualified Mexico-born candidate, using the paved road still being laid down by the GOP. There WILL be much squealing!!
It could still readily happen: Hatch's "Arnold bill" was resurrected a few months ago, intending to be more touchy-feely & "bipartisan," but still the same old shit in a new box.
________________In 2015, the Equal Opportunity to Govern Campaign was set up to reintroduce Senator Hatch's original ... amendment. A petition was set up and a website released on October 9, 2015 ...
There's actually been rumors that the Reds are gonna keep fighting this, so that they can bring in ANY foreign-born puppet as they please.
The Weird Part is the interpretation of "natural-born" to mean something other than "native-born." One version says that the only things not "natural" would be like cloning... or maybe artificial insemination. Maybe it's just my normal paranoia, but doesn't that mean that like 99.99%+ of people on the face of the planet could aspire to be President??
Another pained interpretation focuses on the "born" part, & so only rules out anyone delivered by caesarian section.