The birthers are raising hell and havoc in the state of Hawaii. Their constant request for Obama’s birth certificate has exasperated state bureaucrats and they are pleading for a law that would give them the ability to ignore them.
I maintain that it shouldn't be about the location of his birth; instead, it should be about his father, who was a foreign national. I am going to demonstrate that our founding founders were wary of this, and put provisions in our Constitution to avoid this very scenario; as we have seen with good reason.
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES
Article II Section 1 Clause 5:
"No person but 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...."
Now why did the framers state: "or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution shall be eligible to the office of president...."? BECAUSE THEY WERE NOT NATURAL BORN CITIZENS. In order to be natural born you have to have parents (a father) who is a citizen of the country; since the United States did not exist prior to the revolution, none of the founders would have qualified; they had to be grandfathered in. Upon writing the "natural born clause", our founders were heavily influenced by Vattel's Law of Nations, which was published in 1758.
THE LAW OF NATIONS
212. Citizens and Nations
The citizens are the members of the civil society by certain duties, and subject to its authority, they equally participate in its advantages. The natives, or natural born citizens, are those born in the country, of parents who are citizens. As the society cannot exist and perpetuate itself otherwise than by the children of citizens, THOSE CHILDREN NATURALLY FOLLOW THE CONDITIONS OF THEIR FATHERS, and served to all of their rights. The society is supposed to desire this, IN CONSEQUENCE OF WHAT IT OWES TO ITS OWN PRESERVATION; and it is presumed as matter, that each citizen, on entering into society; reserves to his children the right of becoming members of it. THE COUNTRY OF THE FATHER IS THEREFORE THAT OF THE CHILDREN; and these become true citizens merely by tacit consent. We shall soon see whether, on their coming of the years of discretion, they may renounce their right, and what they owe society in which they were born. I SAY IN THAT ORDER TO BE OF THE COUNTRY, IT IS NECESSARY THAT A PERSON BE BORN OF A FATHER WHO IS A CITIZEN, IF HE IS BORN THERE OF A FOREIGNER, IT WILL BE ONLY THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH, AND NOT HIS COUNTRY.
The framers acknowledged the Law of Nations in our Constitution, Article 1 section 8 clause 10: To define and punish piracy's and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences against the law of nations.
When John McCain announced his candidacy for the republican nomination, his opponents questioned his status as a natural born citizen. Vattel’s Law of Nations answers this very question:
§ 216. Children born at sea.
As to children born at sea, if they are born in those parts of it that are possessed by their nation, they are born in the country: if it is on the open sea, there is no reason to make a distinction between them and those who are born in the country; for, naturally, it is our extraction, not the place of our birth, that gives us rights: and if the children are born in a vessel belonging to the nation, they may be reputed born in its territories; for, it is natural to consider the vessels of a nation as parts of its territory, especially when they sail upon a free sea, since the state retains its jurisdiction over those vessels. And as, according to the commonly received custom, this jurisdiction is preserved over the vessels, even in parts of the sea subject to a foreign dominion, all the children born in the vessels of a nation are considered as born in its territory. For the same reason, those born in a foreign vessel are reputed born in a foreign country, unless their birth took place in a port belonging to their own nation; for, the port is more particularly a part of the territory; and the mother, though at that moment on board a foreign vessel, is not on that account out of the country. I suppose that she and her husband have not quitted their native country to settle elsewhere.
§ 217. Children born in the armies of the state.
For the same reasons also, children born out of the country, in the armies of the state, or in the house of its minister at a foreign court, are reputed born in the country; for a citizen who is absent with his family, on the service of the state, but still dependent on it, and subject to its jurisdiction, cannot be considered as having quitted its territory.
So according to Vattel, John McCain is a natural born citizen.
I have heard arguments that the 14th amendment, and a subsequent ruling by the Supreme Court on U.S. v Wong Kim Ark gives natural born status to children born of foreign nationals. It does not. Two subsequent Supreme Court cases prior to Wong Kim Ark defined the 14th Amendment, and set precedence: The Slaughter-House cases, and Elk v Wilkins. Wong Kim Ark should not be considered settled law, since the justices ignored the aforementioned cases, and disallowed the congressional record on the 14th amendment.
It is because of the misguided ruling of Wong Kim Ark that we have this immigration mess to begin with. It is a perfect example of judicial activism that has gone awry. I might also add that the Constitution confers the rules of naturalization to the legislative branch, and not the judiciary.
Barack Obama has demonstrated the wisdom of Vattel and our founding fathers. He has alienated our historical allies and embraced enemies of Western Civilization. He is his father’s son!
Obama wants to fundamentally change the United States. He is doing it alright, and we are on the road to serfdom.
Source: http://www.constitution.org/vattel/vattel_01.htm
http://www.csmonitor.com/From-the-news-wires/2010/0317/Hawaii-tired-of-conspiracists-may-pass-law-to-ignore-Obama-birthers
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