In the article, Ditch the 14th Amendment? Why stop there?, Martin discusses about how some republican senators such as Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn are suggesting to eliminate the 14th Amendment. The idea was that the 14th Amendment "grants citizenship to children born in the U.S." Many illegal immigrants use this flaw to come to America and find a better future for their children. The main reason for the 14th Amendment was to grant citizenship to the African-Americans that were force to American for "vicious and dehumanizing free-labor." There were many laws and loop holes in the system to prevent African-Americans their right. Also, they "didn't choose to come to America", they were forced. He then goes off and suggest what if we eliminate other Amendments. Such as the 2nd Amendment, he suggest that with a ban on firearms; crime rates will be reduced and deaths well decline in numbers. He then suggest to “tighten up” the 10th Amendment, so that the laws will be at the federal level and reduce the many ways of doing “business.” The 22nd Amendment, which limit’s the length and amount of terms a president can take, should be eliminated so we can keep presidents who get things done and avoid possible failures. He thing goes off on a tangent and discusses how they are the same type of people “who want to ban gay marriage.” He is obviously tired of how some politicians want to “mess with” the U.S. Constitution but then not commit fully.
There are some things about this article I agree with. Things such as, 2nd Amendment should be limited and 22nd Amendment should be changed. In contrast, I believe that the 10th Amendment should still be in effect because the states know what is better for its citizens than the nation. Also, laws are better reinforced at the state level than the federal level because it is closer and cover less people than an entire nation.
As I was flipping through my classmates' blogs, I was briefly skimming for titles that caught my eye. Upon coming to your blog, I was immediately drawn to your blog's title.
ReplyDeleteIn your address of the 14th amendment, you touch the surfaces on the possibility of eliminating the 14th amendment which automatically grants citizenship to individuals born in the U.S. I think that aside from just stating the facts that were vocalized in the article you took your information from, you should've thrown in your opinion on the subject matter. Personally, I think the amendment is unfair in that is allows for our system to be cheated. Illegal immigrants should not have the ability to come to America to have a child, just to ignite ties to U.S. citizenship, then receive benefits from our government in the future. This concept is atrocious to me, and I feel the amendment should be, well-- amended.
Although you feel that the 2nd and 22nd amendments should be limited, the possibility of eliminating the 2nd, 10th, and 22nd amendments seem a little over the top. Firstly, each citizen has a right to bear arms in order to protect themselves. Certainly, this allows for an increased crime rate, but it also gives citizens a feelings of safety and security in their homes. The possibility of eliminating the 10th amendment is not reasonable, because centralizing all of the power to the national government is what broke us from England to began with. And the 22nd amendment should be held in tact as well, for a limit on Presidential terms allows for our nation to continue growing and changing.