US elected officials should be citizens of the US only!

[harlinchi]

Persons who maintain dual citizenships in the US and in any other country should not be eligible for elected positions. When primary allegiances may be called into question, that person should NOT be electable or appoint able to national position. Senators, Congressmen, Cabinet Secretaries and agency leaders (directors and immediate subordinates) should be required to state that they are citizens of the US ONLY.

I have previously been advised that mentioning specific names or countries would open a can of worms best left tightly sealed, although I'm not sure why. It appears to me that some decisions have been made by US leaders which benefit another country far more than they benefited the US. My suspicion is that they were made or advanced by dual citizens in positions of power.

[jimshoes]

1. This, I expect will bring out some

heated opinions but I tend to agree with the premise.

[flordehinojos]

2. there probably is a lot of truth to what you are saying, there is also this other truth:

the bushes who were all born in the u.s.a. have more alliance in their soul, spirit, psychological make-up and belief system with fascism than they have with democracy and with america for that matter.

[MGD]

3. "Merchants have no country.

The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
Thomas Jefferson

[flordehinojos]

8. o, i like this quote ! -

:)

[harlinchi]

9. I like it too!

Why did Dick Cheney's image leap to mind?

[harlinchi]

4. Agreed. As a corollary to my original post I would add that...

...no one with the last name of Bush should be allowed to run for president until 100 years after the last day of the last Bush in that office.

[rubberducky]

5. I have never read anything about this before.......

reading your post. Really had never even thought about it. It seems that it is only common sense. Why would an elected official have dual citizenship?? Seems it would open that person to all sorts of loyalty conflicts. What`s with the "can of worms"?? I say let the worms out and if they turn into snakes that bite someone in the ass, so be it.

[harlinchi]

7. I have had a post locked for naming a specific name and country.

The post questioned whether this individual had a dual citizenship with Israel. His department deals with providing security for our homeland. It led me to question others. I understand, for instance, that trial balloons are being floated asserting that Lieberman would make an good Secretary of Homeland Security...

We'll see if this post survives!

[primative1]

6. Do Tell ...

Worms are essential for maintaining a good garden.

[Igel]

10. I agree. Mostly.

However, regarding Lieberman, I can't find anything but assertions of his dual-citizenship by people that almost certainly have no first hand knowledge.

All Jews, by virtue of having a Jewish mother, have virtual Israeli citizenship. Whether or not he's applied and received citizenship is an open question, inferences and claims notwithstanding.

I do gave stipulations to my agreement: Multiple citizenship via birth or naturalization can't disqualify unless there's evidence that the citizenship was actively "confirmed", either by visits to the country or some other sufficient means; citizenship granted ex parte by a country also can't qualify without additional evidence.

[harlinchi]

12. I was ignorant; I didn't know that.

With your modifications, I agree (as if my agreement confers acceptability or correctness!). Or perhaps, if citizenship is automatically assigned by birth, it should be accepted or denied pre-election!

[LeftishBrit]

11. I agree that people who are elected to national office in one country

should not formally maintain citizenship with another country.. Even though that would actually affect me in theory, as in the unlikely event of my being elected to national office in the UK, I would have to renounce my dual nationality status with Canada. But I think it would be the right thing - for national office; I don't think it's worth making an issue of it for local councillors and the like.

But I have a feeling that some of the proposals for this are not in connection with situations like dual UK/ Canadian nationality, but involve an implication that Jews are less suitable for office as they have the 'right of return', or at least that they should need to repudiate Israel in very explicit terms in order to hold office. This seems to me wrong and unfair and, if not directly anti-Semitic, at least opening the doors to possible anti-Semitism. People should not formally keep citizenship and passports in any other country while at the same time holding office in the USA or the UK, whether the other country is Canada or Israel or France or Saudia Arabia. But no one should be accused of dual citizenship/allegiance UNLESS they are explicitly registered as a citizen or another country, and/or hold that other country's passport. The 'right of return' does not equate with any of these things.

And by the way it's quite possible to be a Bush-poodle on the far-right of a left-of-centre party without holding any allegiance to any country than one's own. I could give you quite a list from my own government.