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He was born in Scotland so that was never going to work, lol

by jmkni 9y ago

kevinmchugh 9y ago
Born on an Army base to an American father. John McCain was born under similar circumstances, Ted Cruz and George Romney were both born abroad and neither was seriously considered disqualified. The only difference between McCain and McAfee afaict is both McCain's parents were US citizens at the time of his birth. That may be relevant, that part of the law can change, but simply being born oversees doesn't stop a person from being a "natural-born citizen".
- jmkni 9y ago
  Didn’t know that, cool! I’m not American so not that clued up on the specifics.
  - astura 9y ago
    Its a common misunderstanding among Americans "you have to be born in the US to become president." I'm not sure where that came from but it's not exactly true. The Constitution says you have to be a "natural born citizen" to become president. "Natural born citizen," however, is not defined. IMO, I think the reason it wasn't defined is because the meaning is obvious, there's two ways to be a citizen, - by birth ("natural") or by naturalization. Tons of discussion on the topic here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause As mentioned above, Ted Cruz was a serious contender for POTUS yet was born in Canada as well as George Romney, who was born in Mexico. Those two about as close as we got to "settling" the issue. John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which, at the time, was an unincorporated territory of the United States. Does that "count" as being "the United States" if you're going to interpret "natural born citizen" that way? People may disagree. They also may disagree if military bases "count" the same way as the Panama Canal Zone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone#Citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone#Citizenship US Senate passed a non-binding resolution that McCain was a "natural born Citizen" of the United States. There have been several Presidents who have one non-citizen parent, the most recent being Barrack Obama.

He was born in Scotland so that was never going to work, lol

by jmkni 9y ago

He was born in Scotland so that was never going to work, lol

Born on an Army base to an American father. John McCain was born under similar circumstances, Ted Cruz and George Romney were both born abroad and neither was seriously considered disqualified. The only difference between McCain and McAfee afaict is both McCain's parents were US citizens at the time of his birth. That may be relevant, that part of the law can change, but simply being born oversees doesn't stop a person from being a "natural-born citizen".

jmkni 9y ago
Didn’t know that, cool! I’m not American so not that clued up on the specifics.
- astura 9y ago
  Its a common misunderstanding among Americans "you have to be born in the US to become president." I'm not sure where that came from but it's not exactly true. The Constitution says you have to be a "natural born citizen" to become president. "Natural born citizen," however, is not defined. IMO, I think the reason it wasn't defined is because the meaning is obvious, there's two ways to be a citizen, - by birth ("natural") or by naturalization. Tons of discussion on the topic here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural-born-citizen_clause As mentioned above, Ted Cruz was a serious contender for POTUS yet was born in Canada as well as George Romney, who was born in Mexico. Those two about as close as we got to "settling" the issue. John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone which, at the time, was an unincorporated territory of the United States. Does that "count" as being "the United States" if you're going to interpret "natural born citizen" that way? People may disagree. They also may disagree if military bases "count" the same way as the Panama Canal Zone. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone#Citizenship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_Zone#Citizenship US Senate passed a non-binding resolution that McCain was a "natural born Citizen" of the United States. There have been several Presidents who have one non-citizen parent, the most recent being Barrack Obama.