Should an immigrant be able to become president?
I don't know how many times i got asked this today. I guess the Government class has to write a paper about this, so I thought it might be interesting to hear what the people of think atheist think? I think if they're a citizen and they've been in the US for so many years they should be able to run for president.
So... thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on -
Exceptions were made intitially. However, that was a mere practicality since the United States, upon inception, would be led by a newborn. ;-)
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Permalink Reply by Vernard Mercader on -
You do have a point. We can't even possibly tell that someone born here in the United States is loyal to the Country.
There is a serious flaw in that law to consider the place of birth as qualification.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on
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I am certain that there are many immigrants that harbor a fiercer loyalty and appreciation for their new home country than many native inhabitants. In this hypothetical, there are no good reasons I see for barring an immigrant that lived only the first few months of his or her life outside of the country from holding that office. Traitors can hypothetically be of any nationality. Knowing the candidate is the only practical way to avoid a duplicitous president, which as demonstrated by many past presidents, is still not a gaurantee for honesty or integrity.
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Permalink Reply by Reggie on
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And many were accused of having foreign sympathies that would be harmful to the Union!
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Permalink Reply by Michael Sizer-Watt on -
Yes, anyone who is capable should be permitted IMO (I'm canadian, but same over here as far as I'm concerned). If there were a nuclear holocaust and every educated canadian were killed leaving only unqualified individuals, I'd have no issue at all with somebody coming from whereverthefukistan and getting things under control
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Permalink Reply by Kris Feenstra on -
Yes. Schwarzenegger needs to become president à la Demolition Man.
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Permalink Reply by Shine on -
Yes. Schwarzenegger needs to become president à la Demolition Man.
He may possibly be the only person who could get me to vote Republican.
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Permalink Reply by kelltrill on -
To answer that from a South African perspective (I don't know enough about American politics), when Mbeki, our last president who was culturally Xhosa, stepped down to make way for our current president who is culturally Zulu there was a lot of cultural tensions amongst black people in this country who clung really ardently to their cultures because they didn't feel comfortable having their country ruled by someone of a different cultural background to themselves. Also, what with the masses of xenophobic attacks we've been experiencing in the past couple of years I really do think that it would be extremely difficult for a someone with a different nationality to be elected.
I don't think it would really matter though, should it happen. So long as they knew enough about South African politics to operate the system efficiently enough and so long as they had been in South Africa since they were really young, possibly no older than about 6 or 7, I doubt it would effect their presidency. Some means of determining their national loyalty, as George mentions, would also be ideal.
On the other hand, our government is generally taking strain, so if an immigrant stepped up to run for government party leader and he/she represented a large enough part of the population and they knew what they were doing, who knows, people might be more easily won over than we think.
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Permalink Reply by Jon Heim on -
they should and they are allowed to...if they are legal and have been citizens long enough. I agree with this, except, maybe making the length of citizenship needed shorter.
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Permalink Reply by Marvel on -
i think if immigrants have the right to vote then they should have a chance to run for presidency.
But the question is : would u vote for an immigrant to become the president !? ..i guess when it comesto that the answer would be a big NO
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Permalink Reply by Shine on
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I must admit that I've always been puzzled by the requirement of a stateside birth for presidential candidacy. I could see implementing a minimum requirement of several decades of citizenship, but something about the birth requirement just seems so archaic and deterministic. Shouldn't we be more concerned about the voluntary words, thoughts, and actions of our leaders rather than the happenstance circumstances of their birth?
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