QOTD: Jonah Goldberg, stopped clock edition
by digby
On the birther question:
Other than the presidency, there’s no place in American life where the distinction between “naturalized” and “natural-born” citizenship matters. But imagine if it did? Imagine that your American-born mother just happened to give birth to you in Canada or Belize while on vacation. Your American-born mom and dad bring you home days later and raise you exactly as they would have had they been in Cleveland the whole time.
Now imagine there are also all sorts of jobs you are barred from having. Not only can you not be president, but you can’t be, say, a chiropodist or an embalmer. Pick your restrictions: You can’t go to certain colleges or you can’t get the best ESPN bundle. Americans born abroad can’t buy basset hounds. Unless you were born here, you can’t get cheese on your hamburger.
Whatever. It really doesn’t matter. If that were the case the Constitution would be amended — either properly or through interpretation — to get rid of this distinction instantly (which means this would have happened centuries before the invention of ESPN, but you get the point).
My point is simple: This issue remains unsettled because it matters so little.
When he’s right he’s right. Who gives a damn? When this was put in the Constitution there was a real question about someone of foreign birth have loyalty to another country. America was a new nation and colonialism was still the way the world was being organized. Things have changed. And nobody with any sense really gives a damn — it’s a political tactic. It’s true that there are right wingers who undoubtedly think Obama was some sort of Kenyan Candidate but it’s highly doubtful that anyone cares about Ted Cruz’s Canadian birth. Please.
But you can’t help but read this and think about DREAM kids who’ve been here their whole lives and live as Americans being told they have to go live in a country they’ve never known.
But that’s different, right?
.