February 23, 2004
Ein Minuten
Posted by nerdling | February 23, 2004 11:09 AM
The only reason that I was willing to deal with the election of the Governator was that once his term screwing up California was over, he couldn't run for President. I can't say that it is surprising that he would desire to be President but I find it curious that there is an amendment being considered that would allow immigrants to run for President and that Arnold is already on the bandwagon to pass it.
My objection to such an amendment isn't based in xenophobia so much as in tradition—I don't lust for change any more than anyone else, particularly when it has to do with the Constitution—and the sneaking suspicion that this wouldn't really apply to all immigrants because most of the voting public just isn't ready for that. They might be ready for an Arnold (though no one would be able to spell the President's name), despite the fact that his popularity would be based on the characters we remember in his movies, not on his politics. However, I just don't see a President Haddad or President Gutierrez being enthusiastically welcomed into the Oval Office any time soon and that is, at least in my view, the great weakness of such an amendment.
Then again, perhaps this is just what is needed to move politics forward a little. I suppose it could go either way, but I am innately suspicious of any flexibility that the Republicans want to interject into the laws.
