{"id":1052,"date":"2011-01-31T15:28:24","date_gmt":"2011-01-31T21:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/?p=1052"},"modified":"2011-01-31T15:28:24","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T21:28:24","slug":"schwarzenegger-for-president","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/?p=1052","title":{"rendered":"Schwarzenegger for President?"},"content":{"rendered":"

For those who remain unconvinced that Barack Obama is a usurper, that he is ineligible to serve as President of the United States, it might be helpful to examine his qualifications side-by-side with the qualifications of three others whose eligibility has been questioned in modern times. \u00a0Article II. Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution states, \u201cNo person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty-five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.\u201d <\/em>\u00a0It is the law of the land, it applies to everyone<\/em>, and it cannot be denied<\/em> or discounted<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In November 1966, following the late George W. Romney\u2019s impressive reelection victory as Governor of Michigan, polls showed him leading former Vice President Richard Nixon by a margin of 39-31% for the 1968 GOP presidential nomination.\u00a0 A subsequent Harris poll showed Romney, the father of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, leading President Lyndon Johnson 54-46% in a head-to-head match-up.\u00a0 However, as Romney gained prominence as a potential nominee, more and more questions were raised regarding his eligibility.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The question of eligibility was based on the widespread belief that, in order for him to serve as president, the Constitution required that he be born on American soil.\u00a0 However, constitutional scholars concluded that, although he was born in a Mormon religious colony, Colonia Dubl\u00e1n, \u00a0in the Mexican border state<\/a> of Chihuahua<\/a>, the fact that both of his parents were U.S. citizens made him a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen.\u00a0 The place<\/em> of his birth was of no consequence.<\/p>\n

A more recent case involves Austrian-born Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Governor of California.\u00a0 Almost from the day he became governor on November 17, 2003, until he left office on January 3, 2011, there was constant speculation that he may one day run for president.\u00a0 In an interview for the CBS News program, 60 Minutes<\/em>, correspondent Morley Safer put the question directly to Schwarzenegger.\u00a0 Schwarzenegger responded, \u201cYes! \u00a0Absolutely!\u00a0 I think, you know, because why not? \u00a0Like with my way of thinking, you always shoot for the top.\u201d<\/p>\n

California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher drafted a constitutional amendment that would allow anyone who’s been a U.S. citizen for 20 years or more to run for president or vice president.\u00a0 Presumably Rohrabacher\u2019s proposal would amend the opening clause of Article II, Section 1 to read, \u201cNo person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this constitution, or a person who has been a citizen of the United States for at least twenty (20) years, shall be eligible to the office of President;\u201d <\/em>Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has prepared a similar amendment for introduction in the Senate.<\/p>\n

Schwarzenegger, who became a naturalized citizen in 1983, has said he supports amending the Constitution.\u00a0 But amending the Constitution is no simple matter.\u00a0 Any proposed amendment would have to be approved by a two-thirds vote of the House and Senate and ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.\u00a0 However, it is unlikely that we will ever be so short of qualified candidates that we would find it necessary to amend the Constitution to allow us to recruit candidates from among the foreign born or \u201cnaturalized\u201d population.<\/p>\n

Then, in the early months of the 2008 Republican presidential primaries, a Nashua, NH man, Fred Hollander, filed a lawsuit questioning Senator John McCain\u2019s status as a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen.\u00a0 His complaint was based on the fact that McCain was born on a military base in the Panama Canal Zone.\u00a0 Subsequent to the filing of the lawsuit, former U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson, a conservative Republican, and Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Tribe, a liberal Democrat, were charged with the task of researching the matter of McCain\u2019s eligibility.<\/p>\n

In a March 19, 2008 memorandum, Olson and Tribe, both eminent lawyers, concluded that, \u201cbased on original meaning of the Constitution, the Framers\u2019 intentions, and subsequent legal and historical precedent, Sen. McCain\u2019s birth, to parents who were U.S. citizens serving on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936, makes him a \u2018natural born Citizen\u2019 within the meaning of the Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weeks later, in an April 10, 2008 statement, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said, \u201cBased on the understanding of the pertinent sources of constitutional meaning,<\/em> it is widely believed that if someone is born to American citizens anywhere in the world<\/em> they are natural born citizens.\u00a0 Because he was born to American citizens<\/em>, there is no doubt in my mind that Senator McCain is a natural born citizen (emphasis added).\u201d<\/p>\n

This was followed by an April 30, 2008 U.S. Senate resolution, approved by a vote of 99-0.\u00a0 The resolution declared: \u201cWhereas John Sidney McCain, III, was born to American citizens on an American military base in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936: Now, therefore, be it Resolved, That John Sidney McCain, III, is a \u2018natural born citizen\u2019 under Article II, Section 1, of the Constitution of the United States.\u201d\u00a0 <\/em><\/p>\n

It is important to note that all three\u2026 the Olson-Tribe Memorandum, the Leahy statement, and the U.S. Senate Resolution\u2026 utilize the plural terms \u201cparents\u201d or \u201cAmerican citizens,\u201d strongly suggesting that the \u201cnatural born\u201d question rests, in large part, on the necessity of both<\/em> parents being U.S. citizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, during the same 2008 primary season, as Illinois senator Barack Obama forged a lead over his principal opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, his eligibility under Article II, Section 1 was called into question.\u00a0 Obama claimed to have been born to an American mother, 18-year-old Stanley Ann (Dunham) Obama, and an African father, 25-year-old Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., a citizen of Kenya, a British crown colony.\u00a0 And while no one among the delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, or among the Democratic members of the U.S. Electoral College, or any member of the U.S. Congress\u2026 sitting in joint session on January 6, 2009 to certify the votes of the Electoral College\u2026 thought to question Obama\u2019s eligibility, numerous citizen lawsuits were filed in federal courts questioning his eligibility.<\/p>\n

The facts in Obama\u2019s case are quite clear and unambiguous.\u00a0 Part 2, Section 5(1) of the British Nationality Act of 1948, the controlling legal authority on who is and who is not a British subject, reads, in part, as follows: \u201cSubject to the provisions of this section, a person born after the commencement of this Act shall be a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies by descent if his father is a citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies at the time of the birth\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s father, a Kenyan, was a British subject at the time of his birth.\u00a0 Therefore, under controlling British law, it is undeniable that Obama was born with dual US-British citizenship \u201cby descent\u201d from his Kenyan father and his American mother.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n

Official U.S. government policy, as outlined in publications of the U.S. State Department, is as follows: \u201cThe U.S. Government recognizes that dual nationality exists but does not encourage it\u2026 because of the problems it may cause<\/strong>.\u00a0 Claims of other countries on dual national U.S. citizens may conflict with U.S. law\u2026\u00a0 However, dual nationals owe allegiance to both the United States and the foreign country.<\/strong>\u00a0 They are required to obey the laws of both countries\u2026<\/strong><\/em>(emphasis added)\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Obama\u2019s dual US-British citizenship required him to obey the laws of both the United States and Great Britain.\u00a0 Is it even remotely conceivable that the Founders would have envisioned a chief executive who was obligated, at any time in his life, to obey the laws of a foreign country?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond that, Obama\u2019s claim to the presidency clearly flies in the face of the words of John A. Bingham, the chief framer of the 14th Amendment, who wrote:\u00a0\u201cEvery human being born within the United States of parents not owing allegiance to any foreign sovereignty<\/strong><\/em> (emphasis added) is, in the language of the Constitution itself, a natural born citizen.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 It is possible that Obama may have been born in the United States, a claim that is far from a certainty.\u00a0 However, he still falls far short of eligibility under the Bingham standard.\u00a0 His birth father owed allegiance to a foreign sovereignty, the British crown, automatically passing that nationality and that allegiance on, \u201cby descent,\u201d to his son, Barack Hussein Obama, Jr.<\/p>\n

Of the four candidates evaluated, two are clearly eligible under Article II, Section 1 of the Constitution, and two are not.\u00a0 The late Governor George Romney, of Michigan, was a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen because, in spite of the fact that he was born in Mexico, both of his parents were American citizens.\u00a0 Senator John McCain, of Arizona, is clearly a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen because, while he was born on a U.S. military base in the Panama Canal Zone, both of his parents were U.S. citizens.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is clearly not a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen because he is a \u201cnaturalized\u201d citizen.\u00a0 He was born in Austria and both of his parents were Austrian citizens.\u00a0 And finally, Barack Obama is ineligible to serve because only one of his parents was a U.S. citizen.\u00a0 He was born owing allegiance to both the United States and Great Britain.\u00a0 However, if he can point to a clause in the U.S. Constitution, a law, or a legal precedent proving that, at some point in his life, he lost his dual nationality and magically became a \u201cnatural born\u201d citizen, I will bow to his claim and end my crusade to have him declared ineligible.\u00a0 Until then, he is not my president because all controlling legal authority\u2026 American, British, and Kenyan\u2026 tells us he cannot be.\u00a0 He must step down and end the pretence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those who remain unconvinced that Barack Obama is a usurper, that he is ineligible to serve as President of the United States, it might be helpful to examine his qualifications side-by-side with the qualifications of three others whose eligibility … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1052"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1053,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052\/revisions\/1053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orderofephors.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}