THE GOP: Xenophobia PLUS Gay Marriage, a Two-fer!

[shirtlifterbear]

The Republican Party hates Americans.

Truefact.

But the GOP reserves a special hatred for both New Americans and Gay Americans.



"The authors of the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all people "born or naturalized in the United States" for a reason. They wished to directly repudiate the Dred Scott decision, which said that citizenship could be granted or denied by political caprice.

They purposely chose an objective standard of citizenship -- birth -- that was not subject to politics. Reconstruction leaders established a firm, sound principle: To be an American citizen, you don't have to please a majority, you just have to be born here."

So the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides for citizenship by birth on US soil, and the GOP wants to try and repeal the Amendment to stop the "flood" of anchor babies, as they're called. Anchor babies would be a totally cute thing if at the core it weren't so racist an ideology. (Can't you just see little babies in Navy uniforms and fake little anchor tattoos on their adorable chubby arms? *squee*)

Of course it's merely a coincidence that the 14th Amendment also HAPPENS coincidentally to enforce the Due Process and Equal Protection provisions onto the states, by shocking coincidence, but I'm SURE that's not what the GOP is after, surely not!

I noticed this little threat to our liberty because I just happened to have been born in one of the few countries in the world that did not allow birth location citizenship, El Salvador. The country was founded by Sephardic Jews that had been thrown out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella, and they wanted to be sure that no one could ever take their country away from them ever again. (Naming your country The Savior was a brilliant stroke, btw, talk about hiding in plain sight! Crypto-Judaism at its finest!) You have to be a THIRD generation Salvadoran to try to get citizenship!

Some other countries?

Kenya, which removed the right in desperation in the late 20th Century because it was literally drowning in refugees who snuck over the border to have babies and stay, Japan, that bastion of xenophobia, the UK (oh dear!) and Germany.

That's right, Germany.

Germany didn't want all of those Turkish immigrants they had imported as laborers to be able to remain and VOTE! Gott im Himmel, nein! (There were third- and fourth-generation Turkish families in Germany, but no citizens!) The European Union ordered them to change the law to conform with every other nation on earth (except El Salvador and Kenya). n.b.: there is a grand total of one Turkish-German elected legislator in Germany. ONE. And he's in a leadership position in his party because, like Barney Frank, he represents an entire demographic by default.

Pat Buchanan, in a virulently racist and homophobic speech to the Republican National Convention in 1998, used the language "We are America, THEY are not."

Molly Ivins quipped that "the speech probably sounded better in the original German."

The GOP hates the Fourteenth Amendment because it lets immigrants become US citizens, and oh, did I mention that those naughty Due Process and Equal Protection clauses are also going to be the Constitutional basis for allowing Gay marriage?

SHOCKING COINCIDENCE!

EDIT: Thank you to those who strengthened my case about racism and birth citizenship!



I'm making a t-shirt that sums up my sentiments about the GOP perfectly, a three-word phrase that makes me laugh and totally makes my point:

"Suck it, Scalia."

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Changing the 14th will never happen. The GOP would have to get three-fourths of the states behind it. That's 36 states. Even Obama couldn't pull thirty six states. It's pure wind to please the base close to the election.

[pectopah.livejournal.com]

Actually there are several other countries that do not automatically confer citizenship to those born there: Japan, for example. India recently changed its law to say that the parents of children born there must be Indian citizens.

The law in Germany since 2000 has been that German citizenship is conferred if at least one of the parents is a legal permanent resident and has lived there for at least 8 years.

It looks like El Salvador has changed its law to birthright citizenship. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jus_soli

Nevertheless, Scalia can still suck it. We want pics of you in the t-shirt.

not just three countries

[trawnapanda.livejournal.com]

.
Since 1 January 1983, children born in the United Kingdom only become British Citizens if their parents are British Citizens, or are legally resident in the UK. Visiting people from, say, Australia or Argentina, who have a child have not given birth to a newborn British citizen. Likewise, visitors from an EU country only get a British baby if they are residents of the UK at the time. This isn't a problem usually, because the child will have citizenship in whatever EU country, and thereby entitled to stay in the UK indefinitely (as is equally true for the parents), but parental popping over from Paris for a couple of weeks doesn't count when it comes to citizenship for the baby.

[fingertrouble.livejournal.com]

if that starting statement is true, doesn't that mean Log Cabin Republicans are actually a truly revolutionary party? Corrupting those closeted Republicans from the inside? LOL.

I don't actually give them that leeway, but if they aren't deluded and are in fact stirring shit in the most evil way possible, more power to them.

P.S. having visited Spain, inc Granada the whole lie that Christianity throwing out the Moors was a golden age was obviously a complete lie. They burned through millions or billions ripped from South America and were bankrupt in less than a century. Witch hunts and mariscon (sp?) were like the US sign of a far deeper fuck up.

[gldngrrl.livejournal.com]

I blame Nancy Reagan for everything. That bitch.

[fearless-son.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the 14th Amendment. The debate over that was so heated.

[quetz.livejournal.com]

The worst example I can think of is Thailand, where two-thirds of those born there are denied citizenship simply because they're hicks from the country and don't have papers.

[zurcherart.livejournal.com]

You forgot the Switzerland (do not dare lump us with Germans!)

In practice the Swiss immigration dept/courts in the last 10-20 years have generally granted citizenship to kids who were born here to legally resident parents after they reach their 16th birthday or so if the kids attended school (were indoctrinated) here and apply for the citizenship. But this isn't protected by law and could change at any time thanks to conservatives using the immigration issue as a wedge issue.

The conservative party leading the way on "immigration reform" sent out a flyer last week which said in part Switzerland is MORE lenient than America on immigration and asking "DO WE REALLY WANT TO BE MORE IMMIGRANT FRIENDLY THAN AMERICANS?!?!" I kid not!

[wescobear.livejournal.com]

Okay, what i don't get is why people in the country illegally are allowed to stay because they have a child. Yes, the child is a US citizen, but s/he can be reared in the native country of the parents and return to the USA when of legal age. Or the child could be reared by relatives here legally or be put up for adoption. There is NO reason to allow the illegal parents to remain in the USA, IMHO.

[gardencub.livejournal.com]

This country's greatest strength was the constant influx of ambitious and hardworking immigrants - striving for freedom and a chance at a better life. It only became an "real" issue when the middle class started to shrink and the working class saw their skilled labor, union protected jobs going away.

When the American Dream starting to become more and more elusive and "Americans" started finding it tougher and tougher to live the life of conspicous consumption they had been used to, xenophobia started to creep in for real.