Fun Reading About The Presidential Candidates Whose Eligibility Was Questioned Because Of Citizenship

Fun reading the article in Wikipedia about all the Presidential candidates whose natural-born citizenship was suspect:

Chester A. Arthur (1829–1886), 21st president of the United States, was rumored to have been born in Canada.

And why is that requirement in the Constitution in the first place?:

This requirement was an attempt to allay concerns that foreign aristocrats might immigrate to the new nation and use their wealth and influence to impose a monarchy.

In the beginning days of the Republic, this was a real concern. Even a petty European noble could dream about emigrating and becoming the 'Duke of the Ouachita', or some-such. Some even tried. The United States wasn't strong enough at the time to resist these ambitions.

These days, some assert Barack Obama isn't a natural-born citizen. Even if he isn't, would it matter? Is there a real danger of ambitious Kenyans or Indonesians getting appointed to the Cabinet and driving the United States into ruin? Really? I've seen no sign of them! Show me the treason!

Meanwhile, look at the participants of gun shows near the U.S.-Mexican border. Many of these native-born, Second-Amendment-supporting Americans have unwavering loyalty to the United States, but by objectively-supporting foreign-based drug cartels, through indirect sales of armaments (particularly to the fearsome Los Zetas), they are engaged in treason. Yet they can run for President without any trouble whatsoever. Meanwhile, foreign-born folks who don't do that (like Arnold Schwarzenegger) can't run for President.

Overarching American power in the world has rendered the natural-born citizen clause all-but-irrelevant for its original purpose. That's a good thing, actually. Like Mel Brooks says: "It's good to be the King!"

Which makes it even more ironic that Michelle Bachmann ran afoul of the purists lately:

In March, according to reporting by Politico and a Swiss reporter, and seemingly confirmed by a Bachmann spokeswoman, Marcus, Michele and three of her children decided to add Swiss citizenship to their American citizenship. (More recently, Bachmann’s famously disorganized office changed this account, claiming that she’s actually been a dual citizen since she married Marcus in 1978, and that it happened “automatically,” as if without her consent. Whatever.) In any case, news that Bachmann had opted to become a “Swiss miss,” as Politico delightfully termed her, upset pundits on the right wing, who called her dual citizenship “an insult to both countries,” “political bigamy,” career-ending,” “egregious,” and tantamount to “treason.”

Once again, even if she was a dual citizen (a matter of choice, mind you, not birth), it need not matter much. It would all depend on whose interests she was serving. Are her loyalties divided, or not? That's the acid test!