Aliens for President

Since America's beginning, being a natural-born citizen has always been a requirement for our Presidents. The natural-born-citizen clause states that only US citizens born in one of our States can run for President. This was originally meant to protect America against foreign influence, and this argument is still justifiable today. Who would want a the person running our country to be someone who wasn't even born in it? How could they possibly understand what it's like to live as an American? They can if they were adopted from a foreign country and should be allowed to run for President.

This law is meant to exclude foreigners who have an inferior experience as an American citizen. I've lived in America my entire life. English is my native language and I struggle to understand Chinese despite spending the first eleven months of my life in China. Don't get me wrong, though; my Chinese heritage is something I value very much. But I cannot imagine myself as a Chinese citizen. Including the times I went back to visit China, I've spent barely a year in China, and was only a baby when I was a citizen. My parents are American and I have been raised as an American. I say the pledge every morning during advisory. There is no way that I can imagine myself as anything but an American citizen. So why can't I run for President? Because my American experience has been tainted due to the first eleven months of my life?

I decided to see what the arguments are for keeping the natural-born-citizen clause. The argument seemed to be fear of our President becoming some unrelatable European or Mexican. However, I was relieved to find that I am not the only person addressing the adopted kids conundrum. According to the New York Times in 2004, "the number of foreign-born children adopted by Americans rose to more than 21,000 last year. Adoption groups estimate that over that past 15 years, about 190,000 children have been adopted into American homes" and should be given the same rights as biological American children. It's not a request to obliterate the natural-born-citizen clause. Even if it was, who would vote for a 'foreigner' who is clearly uneducated about America? Making an exception to the natural-born-citizen clause for adopted kids must be made. As one of the "190,000" foreign adoptions, I believe that it is unfair to discriminate adopted Americans against biological Americans. They may have a different heritage than biological Americans, but they grew up in America just like everyone else.