Republicans Push To Revise 14th Amendment

[MattusMaximus]

Wow...

Republicans Push To Revise 14th Amendment

The immigration debate sparked by Arizona's controversial new law has revived calls to reconsider the Constitution's 14th Amendment.

The amendment, ratified more than 140 years ago, grants automatic citizenship to nearly any child born in the U.S.

Critics say it's an irresistible lure to illegal immigrants — and needs to be revised. Recently, it's been getting a lot of play on the cable news shows. ...

My immediate thoughts:

1. This has a snowball's chance in hell of passing, and the GOP knows it. It wouldn't pass even if they had control of both houses of Congress.
2. The GOP is shooting itself in the foot, yet again, with the growing Hispanic citizenry in this country. Message to Republicans: say "goodbye" to that demographic for the next couple of generations; hope it was worth whipping up your base for one stupid election cycle
3. This is cynical and ugly politics: back in 2006, the GOP tried the same strategy with amending the U.S. Constitution to ban gay marriage. They used election-year politics to vilify gays then, and they're using election-year politics to vilify "illegals" (you know, those brown ones) now.
4. Why has the GOP gone so far off the rails, proposing to amend the freakin' Constitution to be less egalitarian? Why are they making a habit of this stupidity?

This sort of crap almost makes me ashamed that I ever voted Republican.

 

[Manopolus]

Unfortunately, people tend to have short memories when it comes to politics, so I'm doubtful about long term effects.

The Repulicans always get a bit wackier in non presidential election years. The only people that show up for midterm elections tend to be those they manage to scare or piss off, so it works.

Will they actually follow up on this type of garbage? No. Once the election is over they'll put all the emphasis on what Pres. Obama is doing wrong, possibly try a completely fabricated empeachment process (if they have a house majority), and just make total asses of themselves in an attempt to make people mad at the Democrats, while voting no on pretty much everything. Hell, they might even shut down the government again with budjet rejections... anything for press coverage and a divisive culture.

This isn't new... it all started with the Neo-cons when Clinton was in office, and their "contract with America" and has been going downhill since. Wierdly enough, I think both parties have moved a bit to the right in the process.

 

[Thunder]

the purpose of the citizenship section of the 14th Amendment, was to insure former slaves citizenship.

had they known that it would be used 120 years later, to give citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants..and then a bridge for their illegal parents to stay in the USA..they may have written the Amendment a little differently.

i.e. "All persons born within the United States of America, except children of foreign diplomats, children of foreign visitors, and children of illegal aliens, are citizens of the Unites States".

 

[shecky]

Flaming ugly nativist sentiments is good culture war politicking, at least for the short term.

Newly minted 14th Amendment critic Sen. Lindsey Graham has to do whatever it takes to get on the good side of the Tea Party fringes, who increasingly view him as a closeted homosexual elitist RINO. It was a good non issue that he knows will fire up the hoi polloi.

 

[thaiboxerken]

They took 'er jerbs!!

 

[Shalamar]

I'm a US immigrant.. I took your job!

 

[shecky]

the purpose of the citizenship section of the 14th Amendment, was to insure former slaves citizenship.

had they known that it would be used 120 years later, to give citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants..and then a bridge for their illegal parents to stay in the USA..they may have written the Amendment a little differently.

There was not really a concept of "illegal alien" when it was written. Persons wanting to relocate to the US more or less arrived on US soil, and went on in pursuit of their lives. Immigration laws and restrictions, by and large, came later, when more established citizens got uppity about the newer waves of grubby non-English speakers forming communities. The illegal immigrant is largely a creation of the 20th Century, and it's reaction against newcomers.

 

[NotJesus]

I think the Republican Party has started to drift into the Tyson Zone.

Once upon a time, I dubbed this phenomenon "The Tyson Zone," after reaching a point at which I would have believed any story about Mike Tyson (real or made up). Over the past few years, a few other celebrities (Ron Artest, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Dennis Rodman, O.J. Simpson, Courtney Love, R. Kelly, Lindsay Lohan, Roger Clemens) have received a Tyson Zone stamp from me.

It's getting hard to imagine a story, "Republicans Push to ______," where the blank is a policy so extreme that I would not believe that some Republicans could be advocating it.

 

[johnny karate]

According to some Republicans, there's a plot for terrorists to come here, have their "anchor babies", and then train them to also be terrorists. I guess the endgame is that eventually then we'll all be terrorists.

And no, I'm not making this up.

 

[Thunder]

There was not really a concept of "illegal alien" when it was written. Persons wanting to relocate to the US more or less arrived on US soil, and went on in pursuit of their lives. Immigration laws and restrictions, by and large, came later, when more established citizens got uppity about the newer waves of grubby non-English speakers forming communities. The illegal immigrant is largely a creation of the 20th Century, and it's reaction against newcomers.

true.

 

[eeyore1954]

What is so wacky about feeling that someone is not a citizen just because they were born here. If someone crosses the border and haves a baby in the US should that baby automatically be a citizen?

 

[Thunder]

If someone crosses the border and haves a baby in the US should that baby automatically be a citizen?

only if their ancestors are from Latin America, Africa, Asia, or the Middle East.

 

[Apology]

It's pretty sweet how the GOP is the party that wants to protect the Constitution until the Constitution gets in their way, and then they want to tear it apart.

What is so wacky about feeling that someone is not a citizen just because they were born here. If someone crosses the border and haves a baby in the US should that baby automatically be a citizen?

It's completely un-American to deny citizenship to people who are born here, regardless of the status of their parents. There's this silly little statue on an island off the coast of New York City that has this inscription on it that reads, "Give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free..."

Back in the day, Americans took this seriously. Of course, that was before the Right Wing started whipping up fear. They're trying to divert attention from how their deregulation of the banks ruined our economy. The GOP prefers blaming those illegal aliens for the unemployment rate, rather than blaming the Wall Street bankers for swindling everyone and tanking our economy.

I suppose it's the illegal aliens that stole our homes by foreclosing on them as well. Surely it was the Hispanics that sneaked over our borders who changed the laws so it was possible for someone to borrow 125% of the value of their home and pay only interest on their loans. I'm sure it's Middle Eastern terrorists that made it possible for a huge clump of obviously bad loans (like the aforementioned 125%, interest-only loan) to be sandwiched in between some better loans and marketed as equity fund investments for corporate 401k plans. Clearly it's Socialists that made it more profitable for big corporations to outsource jobs to countries like India and Pakistan and avoid paying their fair share of taxes by relocating their corporate offices overseas.

Don't look at the crooks in the suits over there, look at those derned illegals who took our jerbs!

 

[casebro]

And the "republicans" in the OP is defined as? One wachy congressman, perhaps?

 

[eeyore1954]

There was not really a concept of "illegal alien" when it was written. Persons wanting to relocate to the US more or less arrived on US soil, and went on in pursuit of their lives. Immigration laws and restrictions, by and large, came later, when more established citizens got uppity about the newer waves of grubby non-English speakers forming communities. The illegal immigrant is largely a creation of the 20th Century, and it's reaction against newcomers.

I don't know if that is true . Wasn't there a lot of backlash against immigrant groups in the 1800's. There were several laws against Chinese becoming citizens. The Irish were certainly not popular.

 

[Manopolus]

What is so wacky about feeling that someone is not a citizen just because they were born here. If someone crosses the border and haves a baby in the US should that baby automatically be a citizen?

For starters, there is absolutely no possibility whatsoever that they will be able to get the votes necessary to begin the process to change the constitution. Furthermore, there is even less of a snowball's chance in hell that they will be able to override the inevitable presidential veto. Lastly, getting 3/4 of the states to ratify it would be impossible.

All three steps necessary to do what they are proposing would be impossible without widespread support from both parties.

There's no need to debate whether or not the constitution should be changed in this issue. There is no way they'd get the support to do it anyway. Do you have any clue how difficult it is to change the constitution?

 

[MattusMaximus]

According to some Republicans, there's a plot for terrorists to come here, have their "anchor babies", and then train them to also be terrorists. I guess the endgame is that eventually then we'll all be terrorists.

And no, I'm not making this up.

You've got to be kidding me. No, seriously, I can't believe this one without evidence (though I wouldn't be surprised if it were true). Please pony up the evidence.

 

[MattusMaximus]

What is so wacky about feeling that someone is not a citizen just because they were born here. If someone crosses the border and haves a baby in the US should that baby automatically be a citizen?

I'm curious as to why this question is only coming up now, after multiple waves of immigration (the Irish, the Chinese, etc) over the last 140 years. It can't have anything to do with the Tea Party and the upcoming elections, could it?

 

[MattusMaximus]

And the "republicans" in the OP is defined as? One wachy congressman, perhaps?

Try actually reading the article, genius. It's not just "one wacky" Congressman, it's the Republican leadership:

... Graham has been joined by other leading Republicans, including Sen. John McCain of Arizona and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, in calling for Senate hearings on whether changes to the 14th Amendment are needed. ...

 

[MattusMaximus]

I don't know if that is true . Wasn't there a lot of backlash against immigrant groups in the 1800's. There were several laws against Chinese becoming citizens. The Irish were certainly not popular.

Exactly, and no one was talking about repealing the 14th amendment then. So why now?