Birthright Citizenship [Archive]

Tars

05-30-2010, 09:52 AM

I'm not a Libertarian, and so I'm not a fan of Ron or Rand Paul. But a current criticism of Rand, circulating in the liberal blogs, is that he thinks "birthright citizenship" is wrong. I think he's got a point.

The 14th Amendment to The U.S. Constitution (https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html) says:

Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they resideWe are living in a different world than the one in which this amendment was made. Now, it is being used as a method to help bypass U.S. immigration laws. This amendment encourages foreign citizens, here illegally, to have children here, so they themselves will be able to stay.

I don't think it's in our country's best interest to encourage people to have babies. For ecological reasons alone, but for philosophical reasons as well, that's a poor policy. I think the "give us your poor and downtrodden" era of U.S. immigration policy should be reviewed, with an eye towards a process to revise the U.S. Constitution. These days we've got enough of our own "poor & downtrodden", thank you.

Ideally (meaning it won't happen anytime soon) the U.S. should consider children born here to hold the same citizenship as their parents. If the parents are pursuing a legal course for citizenship, then, when they attain citizenship, their minor children should attain it as well.

We should still make a special case for political refuges, seeking asylum.

I believe U.S. immigration policy would benefit our country and its citizens best, if it asks of all potential immigrants, "what can you do for us"? I believe highest priority should be given to citizenship applicants who offer a demonstrable advantage to us for allowing them to become citizens here. People who offer nothing more than a hope to get any kind of job here, should be much lower on the priority list.

Hotspring 44

05-30-2010, 02:47 PM

Dark Shadows

05-31-2010, 06:41 AM

Tars,

Some day you could be "poor and down trodden". One of these days, you will be old and most likely in a nursing home, if you do not have children who will take care of you. Wouldn't you want the nurse taking care of you to have some mercy? Shouldn't we then give the people who are trying to get by some mercy? It's because of our ridiculous laws that people come here to have children and gain citizenship in the first place. If there were no borders and no "nations" only communities of cooperating people, then we might have something going for us. Of course there would have to be cooperation world-wide, and thinking that people are going to be that intelligent in our lifetimes is a pipe dream.

Once you start messing around with our inalienable rights we're really going to be in trouble.

I'm not a Libertarian, and so I'm not a fan of Ron or Rand Paul. But a current criticism of Rand, circulating in the liberal blogs, is that he thinks "birthright citizenship" is wrong. I think he's got a point.

The 14th Amendment to The U.S. Constitution (https://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html) says:
We are living in a different world than the one in which this amendment was made. Now, it is being used as a method to help bypass U.S. immigration laws. This amendment encourages foreign citizens, here illegally, to have children here, so they themselves will be able to stay.

I don't think it's in our country's best interest to encourage people to have babies. For ecological reasons alone, but for philosophical reasons as well, that's a poor policy. I think the "give us your poor and downtrodden" era of U.S. immigration policy should be reviewed, with an eye towards a process to revise the U.S. Constitution. These days we've got enough of our own "poor & downtrodden", thank you.

Ideally (meaning it won't happen anytime soon) the U.S. should consider children born here to hold the same citizenship as their parents. If the parents are pursuing a legal course for citizenship, then, when they attain citizenship, their minor children should attain it as well.

We should still make a special case for political refuges, seeking asylum.

I believe U.S. immigration policy would benefit our country and its citizens best, if it asks of all potential immigrants, "what can you do for us"? I believe highest priority should be given to citizenship applicants who offer a demonstrable advantage to us for allowing them to become citizens here. People who offer nothing more than a hope to get any kind of job here, should be much lower on the priority list.