There is a frightening movement gaining legs in political circles. Arnold “The Terminator” Schwarzenegger wishes to run for President of the United States. Simply put, the men who wrote our constitution very deliberately wrote a detailed document creating our country and before enumerating any duties, we were told that American presidents must be native born. There must have been a reason that they saw this rule as fundamental to our country. While it is politically correct, I do not believe this movement is fundamentally proper.
There is one modern country in the world that has been governed under the same constitution that it was founded under; we are living in that country. The founders specifically wrote that “no 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... and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.” This clause is unambiguous, without room for interpretation. I am sure Arnold is a nice guy and he would make a fun president. But so was and did Bill Clinton. Five years later he is still trying to explain the significant aspects of his legacy that do not involve cigars. Remember, some day Arnold will not be the adorable, politically average Joe that he is now. And once the constitution is amended, it is difficult to undo- on purpose.
What happens when we elect a president whose priorities are not in America’s best interest? There is a reason that the constitution states birth location but also mandates length of time as a resident of America. I realize that our constitution has safeguards against tyrants like Hitler running our government. But the only modern country to have a non-native citizen in the country’s highest office is when Adolf Hitler manipulated his way to the top. What happens when the United States comes in conflict with the native country of our president? Where will his or her loyalties lie? What happens when we elect a Canadian to president and Canada offers the president some land deal like Niagara Falls, Ontario for $300 Billion? It is not without precedent for a president to buy land without congressional approval. Just ask Thomas Jefferson. Will the president’s priorities be colored by his love of Canada first? There are a million such scenarios that may sound ridiculous, and the chance that the event would happen is less than miniscule. But there were Jews who thought Hitler sounded ridiculous after World War I. I would prefer we not have to worry about all of the ridiculous scenarios that “could never happen”.
Beyond anything else, there is no shortage of talented, brilliant Americans overly qualified to be president. Let’s look at them before we start looking to import our leaders. He is the leader of California, which is fine. If he wants to be a Congressman, that is fine too. I just do not want to turn the constitution upside down because of one charming immigrant. Our government is built with safeguards, not guarantees. There is only one job that an immigrant in the United States can never be qualified to perform. There are plenty of other options.