# Will the Constitution be amended so Schwarzenegger can be president? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 24, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460 "2006-12-24T17:43:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/41 "2006-12-29T22:05:05Z")
[QUOTE=Elendil’s Heir] **Quartz** , Ah-nuld could be appointed to the Cabinet tomorrow, if he and Dubya wanted. [/QUOTE] Do you really think he’d be foolish enough to accept? Dubya’s a sinking ship. But a new Republican administration would be an entirely different matter. Besides, could he retain his governorship? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/42 "2006-12-29T22:26:24Z")
All this discussion neglects one key point. If you are a representative, you have 434 others to deal with, as a senator it’s 99 others, and a justice of SCOTUS has 8 others - all to keep radical ideas from actually hurting the country. With the executive branch only one person is in charge. Here’s the thinking: a foreign-born person who has loyalty to another country will have very little impact in the legislative or judicial branch or even as a cabinet member - but as President, our countries foreign policy will have a huge shift towards what’s best for their home country first and America second. Hell, someone from the UK may become President, repudiate the Treaty of Paris (1787), and make us into 50 colonies all singing “God Save The Queen”. :eek: You may disagree with this slippery slope, but I’m sure enough people agree with this logic and think the most powerful person in the US should be American-bred so that a Constitutional amendment will never pass. Oh BTW (before I get flamed), I’m not saying that I agree or disagree with myself. I just bring this up to add to the discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/43 "2006-12-29T22:52:13Z")
[QUOTE=Chance the Gardener] Anyone who pushes for an amendment specifically to get Arnold Schwarzeneggar or Jerry Springer or Jennifer Granholm or any other individual would be doing the movement a disservice. [/QUOTE] Is there a reason Jerry Springer can’t run for the office? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2006, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/44 "2006-12-29T23:20:40Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Is there a reason Jerry Springer can’t run for the office? [/QUOTE] He wasn’t born in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/45 "2006-12-30T00:57:30Z")
Well, you learn something new every day. If you’re born a child of US citizens abroad, and enjoy automatic citizenship, are you a native-born citizen? I’m thinking of people like Madeline Albright. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/46 "2006-12-30T01:00:54Z")
The real answer to the question of the OP lies in the answer to the question: **Can you name 17 states whose legislatures will vote against ratification?** ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/47 "2006-12-30T01:42:43Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Well, you learn something new every day. If you’re born a child of US citizens abroad, and enjoy automatic citizenship, are you a native-born citizen? I’m thinking of people like Madeline Albright. [/QUOTE] Albright’s parents weren’t U.S. citizens. They were Czech. If you were born an American citizen, though not specifically on U.S. soil, I can’t imagine anyone trying to block your presidential run. John McCain is considered a serious contender and was born in the Panama Canal Zone. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/48 "2006-12-30T02:24:32Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Do you really think he’d be foolish enough to accept? Dubya’s a sinking ship. But a new Republican administration would be an entirely different matter. Besides, could he retain his governorship? [/QUOTE] I agree, the Governator’s _very_ unlikely to give up being CEO of the biggest state to join the ranks of the Bush Cabinet. And no, he couldn’t be a Cabinet secretary and remain governor (although I can’t lay my hands on the particular constitutional provision about that at the moment). Wiki says that Jerry Springer was born in London, England, and emigrated with his family to the U.S. when he was five years old. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/49 "2006-12-30T06:04:22Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] If you were born an American citizen, though not specifically on U.S. soil, I can’t imagine anyone trying to block your presidential run. John McCain is considered a serious contender and was born in the Panama Canal Zone. [/QUOTE] The Constitution NEVER said you have to be born in the US! It says in Article II, Section 1 > [@](#): > > No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States. There are two ways to be a natural born citizen. One is to be born to American citizens anywhere in the world and the other is to be born to foreign nationals while on US territory (except foreign dignitaries). The second option is questionable since under the discussion during the XIVth Amendment it was clear that children born to illegal immigrants did not satisfy the requirements of being a natural born citizen since they did not meet the “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” criterium of Section 1 (the peculiar phrasing come about from dealing with the issue of Indians on reservations but part of the sovereign tribe). [hijack] In _United States v. Wong Kim Ark_ (1898) the doctrine that any person born in the US is an American citizen was established however it should be remembered that although Ark’s parents were Chinese citizens (Chinese emigrants could not become US citizens by law), they were domiciled residents and thus subject to US jurisdiction. IMHO, this case would not apply to someone who snuck across the border from Windsor or Mexicali and popped out a kid. Discussion of this came up during the recent immigration contraversy and though the law stayed the same, there were a few serious attempt to change the law so that children of illegal immigrant were not automatically granted citizenship.[/hijack] Long story short (too late), if your parents were US citizens, you are eligible to be President no matter where you were born. If you were born in the US (under current law), you are also eligible to be President. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/50 "2006-12-30T06:24:04Z")
[QUOTE=SaintCad] The Constitution NEVER said you have to be born in the US! It says in Article II, Section 1 [/quote] Hey, don’t lecture _me_, bub. I was answering Zsofia’s question. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/51 "2006-12-30T07:03:14Z")
[QUOTE=Bryan Ekers] Hey, don’t lecture _me_, bub. I was answering Zsofia’s question. [/QUOTE] No you didn’t. The answer to her question is a simple “yes”. Why even talk about whether someone would or would not try to block the presidential run of a US citizen born outside of the country? Also, your McCain example is a non sequiter - until Carter, the Canal Zone was part of the US. McCain was born in the United States just like Barry Goldwater was (Arizona Territory 1909). ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/52 "2006-12-30T16:03:20Z")
As you wish. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/53 "2006-12-30T20:00:24Z")
Grandholm from Mich will be all for it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2006, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460/54 "2006-12-31T17:03:10Z")
[QUOTE=gonzomax] Granholm from Mich will be all for it. [/QUOTE] That’s assuming that she wants the job and is planning to run for it, neither of which is really a warranted assumption. Most Governors and virtually all Senators never become President or even run. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-the-constitution-be-amended-so-schwarzenegger-can-be-president/385460.md?page=2)