Dear Editor:
The hot topic of the week is whether or not Ted Cruz is eligible to be president. Cruz claims that he is. Donald Trump implies that Cruz is not. The Constitution specifies that the president must be a “natural born” citizen of the US. Natural born has always been interpreted to mean born “in” the United States. Cruz was, unquestionably, born in Canada and until a year ago was a Canadian citizen. He claims that since his mother was an American citizen he is a “natural born” citizen of the US.
Think about it. For the past eight years, far right conservatives, Republicans, the Tea Party and assorted crackpots have been promoting the (totally debunked) notion that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore not a “natural born” citizen nor eligible to be president. There have been umpteen lawsuits over this issue. Legislators have spent huge amounts of time and taxpayer money debating it and right wing pundits like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh flooded the airwaves calling for Obama’s removal as president because of it.
Obama being born in Kenya exists only in the alternate universe of those mentioned above. In the real universe he was born in Hawaii and his mother was a US citizen. So, Obama is a natural born citizen, case closed. Cruz’s situation is just as simple. He was born in Canada and therefore, according to the birthers, is not a natural born citizen, so case closed, sort of. The difference in treatment between the two represents the well established undercurrent of racism that exists in this country. Don’t throw your hands up and tell me no, don’t play the race card. You know that this is true and if you say it isn’t you are just straight out lying.
All of a sudden these birthers don’t mind that Cruz was born in Canada. They probably didn’t mind that George Romney, Mitt Romney’s father who ran for president in the ‘60s, was born in Mexico, or that John McCain, who won’t provided his birth certificate, was born in Panama. No, it’s just our non-white president that curdles their blood.
Right wing media stars Hannity and Limbaugh, who spent so much time frothing at the mouth about Obama during the original birther movement, have just made complete 180s. It’s almost, no, it actually is, totally embarrassing to watch these guys defend Cruz without ever acknowledging or even mentioning how they portrayed Obama. I don’t know which is worse, the media guys making big bucks pandering to their audiences or the ignorant people who listen to and believe them.
So, let’s see how dedicated these birthers actually are to constitutional government. Let’s call on all the birthers to continue their crusade by changing the focus from Obama to Cruz. Let’s see how many will do that. Then we can find out who are the real advocates of the Constitution and who are the racists.
Greg Zafros
Lewisburg