Proposed Constitutional Amendment to be introduced:

[ddeclue]

Article I Section 2, Paragraph 2 shall hereby be amended to read:

No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen and who shall not be related by blood or marriage to Prescott Bush, Joseph P. Kennedy, or William Jefferson Clinton.

Article I Section 3, Paragraph 3 shall hereby be amended to read:

No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen and who shall not be related by blood or marriage to Prescott Bush, Joseph P. Kennedy, or William Jefferson Clinton.

Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 5 shall hereby be amended to read:

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 and who shall not be related by blood or marriage to Prescott Bush, Joseph P. Kennedy, or William Jefferson Clinton.

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

[bullimiami]

1. throwing the baby out with the bath water.

just because the bush family is full of corrupt scumbags shouldnt affect a clinton or kennedys or anyone elses for that matter, regardless of lineage, aspirations to public service.

[ddeclue]

2. We have 300 MILLION citizens in this country.

I am sick of royal families regardless of their stripe.

Everyone deserves a chance to have a say and make a difference and there are plenty of competent qualified people whose names AREN'T KENNEDY, CLINTON OR BUSH.

The Kennedy family already has a 7 term Senator a several term Congressman - that's quite more than enough for just one family. Do we REALLY need a THIRD Kennedy in Congress?

There are plenty of other qualified people and it's time to give someone else a chance.

:eyes:

[LynneSin]

8. With the work that the Kennedy's have done for working class people - no issue with me

The Kennedy's may be a dynasty and a very wealthy one at that - but they have always put the working class people first. And with Ted's time limited with us here on earth it would be nice to have another Kennedy fighting for us in the senate. I would suspect that Caroline's ideologies do not stray very far from her Uncle.

[JuniperLea]

11. Not to mention her contact list!

I agree with you completely, LynneSin. If the family is known for their good deeds, I have no problem at all seeing many of their faces show up in our government for decades to come.

Besides, this is a really stupid reason for saying someone shouldn't hold office... because of their family... just stupid. What if Chelsea shows herself to be a top notch human being with the same bent as the Kennedy's? I think she would deserve a chance.

The one thing these people bring that others can't, is connections. To be so well connected is a gift that can be used to great advantage for the people.

[ddeclue]

20. What a ridiculous assumption...

That the Kennedies and Clintons are so much better or more deserving than any of the rest of us...so we must give a seat to Chelsea or Caroline or anyone else from these royal families.

eyes:

Indeed that is the basic assumption that underlies hereditary monarchy or aristocracy.

Let someone else have a chance.

:eyes:

[JuniperLea]

30. That isn't what I said...

You should take a reading class.

[Vattel]

18. We need good congresspersons and presidents

regardless of how many of their relatives have served.

[ddeclue]

22. It goes against common sense to assume that THEY would be the ONLY good Congresspersons

in fact it is rather insulting to the rest of us that such people are the only ones who can save us and we've got to give them the job.

This is a democracy not a monarchy.

:eyes:

[AndyA]

3. I don't have anything against the Kennedys or the Clintons, but I certainly

do have a lot against the Bush Crime Family.

Never, ever again should anyone from that mob organization serve in a public office. It is a DISSERVICE to the public at large to allow them to do so.

Nothing against the other two families, but yes, it would be nice to get some FRESH BLOOD in Congress for a change. But I'll take any Kennedy or Clinton over a Bush any day.

[ieoeja]

4. Whew. I'm related to the Harrison** dynasty. Glad to see I'm still qualified!

**Which ended when a second William Henry, grandson of President Benjamin, hooked his star to the the Ku Klux Klan just prior to its collapse.

[madamesilverspurs]

5. Sarcasm aside,

we should take seriously the peril of an inherited inside track to the White House. To be sure our history is rife with those families who have given great service; we also have those, like the Bushes, who have demonstrated unbridled opportunistic greed under the laughable misnomer of public service. Our constitution and the future of our children are worthy of considerations that would prohibit familial succession to the highest seat of power. The one positive thing Bush has done is to remind us of why we ditched dynasties in the first place.

[ddeclue]

13. I suppose I left off a few other dynastic families:

Adams as in John and John Quincy
Roosevelt as in TR and FDR
Daley as in Mayor Daley and his son Mayor Daley
Gore as in Albert Gore Sr and Albert Gore Jr.
Meek as in Kendrick Meek and Carrie Meek (apparently the Meek shall inherit a Congressional District anyways)
Cuomo as in Mario and Andrew
Sununu as in John H. and John E.

[MarkInCA]

6. Don't get me wrong, I get your point

but that would disqualify Obama who is distantly related to Prescott Bush.

That might sound silly, but some freeper would take it to the supreme court.

[ddeclue]

7. Actually you misinterpret it

it is written to mean that you MUST be a Kennedy, Bush, or Clinton to be elected so Obama would be "safe" under my sarcastic change although I wasn't really thinking of 6th cousins but rather parent child, sibling sibling, husband wife etc.

[MarkInCA]

12. So I did, oops, comprehension is asleep today n/t

[S_E_Fudd]

9. Beyone stupid...

My guess is that Republicans were saying the same thing during FDR's term...

[ddeclue]

14. Don't you mean beyonD stupid???

This has nothing to do with party and everything to do with representative government.

[S_E_Fudd]

15. It's about restricting voter choice based on an accident of birth...

Or of marriage...

it's un-American and anti-democratic

[ddeclue]

17. Actually you are mis-reading it.

It does not EXCLUDE Kennedies, Bushes or Clintons but rather EXCLUDES everyone else.

It is written as SARCASM to ridicule the notion that you have to be from one of these royal families to be entitled to serve in government. I'm sick of the undue cult of personality worship that goes one in place of democracy (small d).

Doug D.

[S_E_Fudd]

19. Cult of personality is not restricted to certain political families...

Are you telling me Reagan's popularity wasn't a cult of personality?

Even though I am happy Obama won there is a significant amount of it with him as well...

Seems to me people like Hillary, Caroline Kennedy, RFK Jr. etc have a higher sense of public purpose in their choice to follow in their relations footsteps than most...I don't want to discourage that...

[ddeclue]

21. It's one thing when we are talking about the original...

it's another when we start talking about the wife, the son, the nephew, the cousin, etc. The second person doesn't deserve some sort of hereditary office like this merely because of their surname and it really stretches credulity that Caroline Kennedy is the ONLY person for this job and that we should all bow down and kiss the Kennedy ring. There are plenty of damned fine Democrats in NY why should we be limited to this one?

[S_E_Fudd]

23. Well first...

All of this is based on media heresay...

Second, if she is picked she will face the voters in two years. If they are not happy they can make another choice...

Third, she does have qualities that make her attractive that other established politicians might not have...or politicians with less name recognition might not have

I'm not arguing for or against her...frankly I don't care much...but her pick would not be wildly off base

[ddeclue]

24. Appointing her would certainly give her a huge advantage two years from now.

I'm not saying she would be a bad Senator or a bad Democrat but rather we need to give someone else a chance.

Doug D.

[S_E_Fudd]

25. She hasn't had a chance....

She has never held political office...

And there is an argument to be made that her choice would insure the Dems hold the seat in two years...

[ddeclue]

27. It's NY not Idaho..ANY Democrat could and would hold the seat in 2 years...

that is a specious argument.

[S_E_Fudd]

29. Depends on the Democrat...

And it isn't the only one...

I'm just saying the fact that she is a Kennedy should not be disqualifying..

No politician chosen would get there simply on a calculation of their talent...

They would get there based on their connections and raw political calculations...

[LynneSin]

10. Damnit, that means I can never run since I'm distantly related to Prescott Bush

:cry:

:sarcasm:

[ddeclue]

16. Actually the way I worded it you would be one of the FEW who WERE qualified.

It was written in a sarcastic way to codify all the cult of personality nonsense that has already gone on over Hillary and now will go on over Caroline Kennedy.

[jberryhill]

26. The freepers seek to amend by adding

"naturally born to two white US citizens in a state other than Hawaii"

[ddeclue]

28. Has to be reworded to allow for John McCain to be elected...

:rofl:

He was born in the Panama Canal Zone.