Now the Washington state Republican Party has proposed to strike at the Jugular of the force transforming America – the bizarre 1898 Supreme Court decision on the 14th Amendment (30 years after "Ratification") which created Birthright Citizenship – quite contrary to what the framers of the 14th Amendment intended. [State GOP opposes citizenship for illegal immigrants' children -THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Monday May 29 2006]
The idea that a child is entitled to citizenship simply because the mother happened to be in the national territory at birth was always rare in the world, and the European nations have decisively eliminated any traces in recent years. At the time the 14th Amendment was passed it was not even envisaged that Indians would be deemed Americans!
It lays bare the motivations of the Open Borders Lobby that they have not offered this concession to facilitate acceptance of the purported “Guest Worker” concept. If “Guest Workers” include young women, children born will be “Anchor Babies” and no one will ever have to leave.
In contrast, Switzerland effectively refuses to give citizenship to its foreign born or descended population – and consequently does not have to consider them politically, despite a higher proportion (20%) than present in the US.
Needless to say, the Republican Convention keynote speaker, State Attorney General Rob McKenna [who has a particularly evasive contact mechanism ] freaked out
citing the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which confers citizenship on everyone born in the United States. "I believe the Constitution provides otherwise," he said. "I believe that if you are born here, you should be a citizen."
demonstrating he does not know the legal history of this crucial question, nor understand the issue.
The Seattle Times account, no doubt correctly, expressed doubt that Congressman Doc Hastings [R- 4th District/ AKA Zirkle Fruit] would pay attention:
U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings of Pasco told the delegates before the debate began, "When we leave here, we'll talk about our platform." Hastings may not, though. He has been an outspoken supporter of a guest-worker program that would allow agricultural workers to legally stay in the country temporarily.
Tough stance on immigration –by Andrew Garber The Seattle Times May 28 2006
Of course, it is precisely the cheap labor hogs Hastings represents who should be most interested in the concession of fixing the 14th Amendment problem – if they had the brains, and the strength.
