The natural born clause is a law rooted in fear. It mentions that a naturalized American can never run for president. Our Founders wanted to prevent foreign influence. However, one can argue that our politicians are under a lot of influence irrespective of their place of birth. USCIS reports that there were over 8.7 million naturalized Americans from 2001 through 2014. This law stifles the aspirations of those Americans. The U.S. is better off if naturalized citizens were given the same opportunity to bring their ideas to the table. It is time we abolish or change (e.g. eligible after 20 years) this outdated law. We are a nation of immigrants, and the greatest definition of the U.S. is one where an immigrant can legally come here and one day aspire to highest office of the land.
This is historical material “frozen in time”. The website is no longer updated and links to external websites and some internal pages may not work.
