# Michele Bachmann becomes Swiss. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473 "2012-05-10T03:48:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/21 "2012-05-11T11:27:56Z")
Meh, let her go. Just don’t let her back. After all, [Du Lac](http://www.casino-de-geneve.com/) IS the perfect place… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/22 "2012-05-11T15:00:17Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > She probably didn’t anticipate the backlash. > > It is that ability to foresee the reaction to things that one was one of things that made her such a strong Presidential candidate. I’m amazed that she didn’t anticipate that her base would have a problem with this. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/23 "2012-05-11T15:09:58Z")
Hilariously, Mark Krikorian of National Review Online is blaming [those on the left](http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/299461/swiss-miss-mark-krikorian#), “The fact that even a patriot like Bachmann would do something like this is testament to how thoroughly the moral relativism of the post-national Left has permeated our culture.” Yeah, like they held a gun to her head and forced her to do this. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/24 "2012-05-11T18:22:00Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Hilariously, Mark Krikorian of National Review Online is blaming [those on the left](http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/299461/swiss-miss-mark-krikorian#), “The fact that even a patriot like Bachmann would do something like this is testament to how thoroughly the moral relativism of the post-national Left has permeated our culture.” Yeah, like they held a gun to her head and forced her to do this. It’s doubly amusing because that crowd claims that one thing that distinguishes conservatives from libruls is that conservatives know the importance of taking responsibility for your own actions, rather than blaming it on society or whatnot. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/25 "2012-05-11T19:09:41Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > It’s doubly amusing because that crowd claims that one thing that distinguishes conservatives from libruls is that conservatives know the importance of taking responsibility for your own actions, rather than blaming it on society or whatnot. As one of my favorite political satires once said, the less you plan to do about something, the more you must talk about it. Conservatives talk about liberals “playing the victim card”, and that the mainstream media, academic elites, Hollywood, militant atheists, gays, and now moral relativists are out to destroy their way of life. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/26 "2012-05-12T04:04:51Z")
I am reminded of the line spoken by William Marcy “Boss” Tweed in the movie “Gangs of New York”: _The appearance of the law MUST be upheld. ESPECIALLY when it’s being broken_ ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/27 "2012-05-12T14:54:00Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Incidentally, she would not have been able to do this in Australia: Australian members of Parliament are not allowed to be dual citizens, under the Australian Constitution, In a lot of countries, including mine (Dominican Rep.), dual citizens are not eligible for the presidency. Peru enacted a similar law after the whole Fujimori brouhaha. > [@grude](#): > > Yea most countries recognize jus sanguinus and it is usually a rather simple process to file and have your children’s citizenship recognized, but it is kinda strange they extend that to spouses in Switzerland. Nobody is granted citizenship against their will. You might be eligible for it, but that doesn’t mean the country goes out of their way to claim you as their own against your will. Imagine that, we could have declared Bush (or Obama) a Dominican by decree and automagically make them ineligible to become POTUS. Our country has a convoluted mixture of Jus Sanguinus and Jus Solis, and is not like we are Shanghaiing children of Dominicans born abroad into citizenship. Even if by the letter of the law they have all the rights of every other citizen, to get their documents and stuff they have to apply and prove their rights. FTR, my daughter is ineligible for office in both of her countries. We don’t have a process of renunciation. You can not quit your Dominican citizenship. You cannot be stripped of it either. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/28 "2012-05-12T22:34:05Z")
**Mighty\_Girl** , I am NOT an immigration lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that if your daughter has US citizenship she can run for any office except President, once she’s of age. Arnold Schwartzenegger was Governor of our largest state, and he was not born in the US. I saw an interview with Madeline Albright and she said while Secretary of State she could not participate in exercises practicing for emergencies leading to succession, since she was born in Czechoslovakia and therefore could not be POTUS. But she was still Secretary of State. And the requirement that the POTUS be “natural born” may get repealed before your daughter runs for the White House. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/29 "2012-05-12T23:22:55Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Yea most countries recognize jus sanguinus and it is usually a rather simple process to file and have your children’s citizenship recognized, but it is kinda strange they extend that to spouses in Switzerland. IIRC, the non-Jewish spouses of Jews by birth are covered by the Right of Return under Israeli law. AIUI, it’s so the family isn’t broken up or have different statuses based on religion. ---
**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2012, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/30 "2012-05-12T23:50:23Z")
> [@grude](#): > > Unless Switzerland has some REALLY LAX and strange immigration and naturalization law how the hell did she accidentally stumble into being a dual citizen? > > I have never seen a country where the spouse of a citizen doesn’t have to first acquire permanent residency(this is not easy by any definition even if you are lucky and breeze through) and then spend a certain amount of time in country and then satisfy a waiting period of years before they can apply for citizenship. So she spent tons of time in Switzerland, years of back and forth filing of forms and interviews etc, oops oh my gosh I accidentally a citizenship! Italy has something similar. My mom got Italian citizenship through my dad despite neither of them having lived there. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/31 "2012-05-13T00:01:27Z")
So, have they scheduled a special election to fill her seat yet? Because obviously, by Tea Party logic, as soon as she gained the dual citizenship, she became ineligible for Congress, and her seat therefore vacated. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/32 "2012-05-13T00:14:26Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > So, have they scheduled a special election to fill her seat yet? Because obviously, by Tea Party logic, as soon as she gained the dual citizenship, she became ineligible for Congress, and her seat therefore vacated. Doesn’t work that way when you’re white. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Girl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7bcc69/32.png) [@Mighty\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Girl)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/33 "2012-05-13T16:59:53Z")
> [@Typo\_Knig](#): > > **Mighty\_Girl** , I am NOT an immigration lawyer, but I’m pretty sure that if your daughter has US citizenship she can run for any office except President, once she’s of age. Arnold Schwartzenegger was Governor of our largest state, and he was not born in the US. I saw an interview with Madeline Albright and she said while Secretary of State she could not participate in exercises practicing for emergencies leading to succession, since she was born in Czechoslovakia and therefore could not be POTUS. But she was still Secretary of State. And the requirement that the POTUS be “natural born” may get repealed before your daughter runs for the White House. Sorry I wasn’t clear enough. My daughter’s other nationality is Danish. Denmark does not recognize it, when she is of age she’ll have to renounce her Dominican nationality. Which means jack, because the Dominican Rep. does not accept renunciation. Once Dominican, forever Dominican. And the DR forbids people with double nationality to hold office. A nice catch 22. Anyway, I’d rather my daughter grows up to become an honest citizen. That will rulle out a career as a politician. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![andygirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a9adbd/32.png) [@andygirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andygirl)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473/34 "2012-05-14T01:19:44Z")
Might as well accept that we’re stuck with her. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michele-bachmann-becomes-swiss/621473.md?page=1)