I remember wondering what I’d say if my daughter asked me whether she could become the President of the United States when she grew up. I hoped she wouldn’t.
It’s not really that important, of course. Who in their right mind would want to be President, with all the criticism, loss of privacy, danger of being assassinated, responsibility for so many lives?
Well, okay, I used to want to be. It just seemed like the fastest way to save the world, like I wanted to when I was an idealistic teenager. But I soon realized that I didn’t have the stomach for the campaign trail and set my sights lower, like a Cabinet post perhaps. Lots of influence, some criticism of course, but at least a bit more out of the spotlight.
Of course, there are so many other things one can be in this country. The law that only natural-born citizens can be President wouldn’t, for example, stop one from being Secretary of State, fourth in line to the Presidency. Henry Kissinger was born in Germany, and while people sometimes brought it up, no one was really worried about the fourth in line. (The Vice President must also be a natural-born citizen.)
While our children are considered citizens, they are not considered “natural-born citizens”. About the only difference this makes, as far as I can tell, is that she can’t be President or Vice President.
I still found myself stammering when she actually asked me, though. Meg works so hard in school; it would be nice to be able to repeat the old line that there are absolutely no limits to where she can go.
Whether you want the job or not, it’s the symbolism of the thing. We keep telling our kids that in America you can be anything, even the President of the United States. To tell her that she could do anything except the top job because she wasn’t born a citizen seemed somehow to tell her that she wasn’t good enough, she wasn’t a real American.
I suppose I can go back and explain to her that the Constitution was written over two hundred years ago, when the country was new and probably anxious to prove that a country based on democratic ideals could actually endure.
I’m not sure that would mean much to her, though.
Please see these related blogs:
The Election of the Untested and the Untried
More Great Careers: Physician’s Assistant to Professor
Now is the Time to Teach Your Homeschoolers About Politics