A person should never be punished for something over which he has no control. Don't blame the weatherman because it feels "too muggy" outside and don't blame the teller at your bank simply because your account balance is lower than you hoped. And it's probably equally unfair to punish naturalized American citizens for being born outside the United States.
Currently, no American citizen born outside the borders of the United States can ascend to the presidency.
So, if you made the choice to be born in another nation, it serves you right. Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided it would be cool to be born in Nepal.
Clearly, people have no choice where their mother happens to give birth to them. If, as a nation, we're serious about equal opportunity, we need to begin considering why we are so unfairly discriminatory in our presidential eligibility criteria.
And if, as a nation, we're intelligent, we will stop punishing individuals for things they are not responsible for. Location of birth -- like hair color, skin tone, eye color or family status -- is a factor of birth that cannot be changed.
After all, if people could decide where they were born, the rate of immigration would go down significantly, as everybody would already be at their desired place. Until we're able to decide where we're born from the womb, location of birth should not withhold opportunities.
Thankfully, movements all across the country have sprouted up to take this issue and push for an amendment to the Constitution. These ideas for amendment, varying slightly in their details, all center on changing the Constitution to allow naturalized American citizens the opportunity to serve as president of the United States. Sentiment for this type of amendment is so strong it has been proposed several times in Congress over the years, and the Senate Judiciary Committee recently held hearings on the issue.
Passing this amendment, though, will not be easy. It will first require two-thirds of the congressional vote and then ratification by three-fourths of the states. The process of amending the Constitution, made painfully difficult by the Founding Fathers, is about as likely to happen as the Washington Generals handily defeating the Harlem Globetrotters. This sort of thing just doesn't happen very often.
Although the Constitution has only been amended 27 times in over 200 years, it doesn't justify the continued injustice of the current discriminatory policy. It may be incredibly difficult to amend the Constitution, but it is still the right thing to do. And with both political parties having rising stars who were born in other lands, it is only a matter of time (perhaps decades) until the 28th Amendment allows for the possibility of all American citizens to become president.
But this movement should not be characterized as an effort to draft California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Austrian born) or Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (Canadian born). This movement is about fairness and intelligence.
It is not fair to punish people for being born elsewhere, just as it is not intelligent to prohibit qualified Americans from seeking the highest public offices. Naturalized citizens can already be senators and congressmen, so it is not as if this is some radical change.
And, most importantly, we no longer need to worry about European aristocrats coming to America to grab the reigns of power, as our Founding Fathers were afraid would happen. I, for one, think the American electorate is far too smart to elect anybody with the title of Baron, Duke or Lord High Chamberlain.
Macy Hanson is an American-born political science and philosophy sophomore. Reach him at macy.hanson@asu.edu.
