Repeal the natural-born citizen clause

In the United States Constitution, it states that only a natural-born citizen or a citizen of the United States at the time of adoption of the constitution may assume the office of President. This law was created in order to prevent a British colonialist from becoming President and making the newly formed America a British colony again. Today, this is no longer a threat and the American people know better than to elect a candidate who does not have America’s best interest at heart, consequently making the law redundant.

The law prevents over five percent of otherwise legible U.S. Citizens from having the right to become President. We do not believe it is right, that someone should be denied the right to be elected to public office, simply because of their place of birth. Many immigrants have served in the U.S. military, made scientific and medical advances for the United States, brought money to the U.S. in the form of businesses, and even served America in other forms of public office. Many immigrants are just as patriotic, if not more so, than many natural-born citizens, and we believe that denying them the right to candidacy to the Presidency is morally unjust, and decreases the number of able candidates, potentially denying America a better leader. Many able politicians who would have been strong Presidential candidates have not had the opportunity to run, and consequently the people have not had the right to elect them, simply because of the country they were born in. We believe that country of birth is irrelevant, and that what matters is the country you have allegiance to.

It is foolish to believe that someone born in the United States, but who has lived abroad all their life, has more allegiance to the United States, and more right to become President, than someone who was born abroad, but has chosen to leave their home and past behind them and make a new life in the country they have always dreamed of living in.

We believe that the foundations of democracy are that the people have the right to elect the leader they wish to be led by, and that they should be able to vote for whoever they wish provided that person wishes to be President. We believe that the people should have the right to choose their leader, whether the candidate was born in the United States or not.

Consequently, we ask that an amendment to the Constitution is proposed to repeal the natural born citizen clause, and allow foreign-born citizens to assume the role of President provided they fit the remaining criteria and have been a citizen for at least twenty years; and so we propose the Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment that:

“Section 1: A person who is a citizen of the United States, who has been for 20 years a citizen of the United States, and who is otherwise eligible to the Office of President, is not ineligible to that Office by reason of not being a native born citizen of the United States.
Section 2: This article shall not take effect unless it has been ratified as an amendment to the Constitution by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States not later than 7 years from the date of its submission to the States by the Congress.”

Consequently, we urge Congress to propose and pass this amendment, so that there truly are equal opportunities for all Americans to govern the United States, and the President, truly is the person considered by the people to be the best person for the job.

For more information visit the Equal Opportunity to Govern Campaign's website at www.eotg.org