- Lawrence Sellin Monday, April 25, 2011
It serves no purpose here for me to present arguments supporting a case against Obama’s eligibility or recite the background and intent of the natural born clause of the Constitution. That information is already available, for example, in the brilliant and exhaustive documentation provided by Stephen Tonchen from whom I liberally pilfer.
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Why does Congress feign ignorance, continue a conspiracy of silence and display blatant cowardice in regard to this issue? Is it that members of Congress are too politically correct, too complicit in a cover-up and are just stalling in the desperate hope that Obama is not re-elected?
What happens then, if through some tragic mistake of history, Obama is re-elected? Congress could find themselves, not only in dereliction of their duty, but potentially contributing to the destruction of our republic.
Edwin Vieira, a leading Constitutional scholar, warns that Obama’squestionable eligibility, if left unresolved, could become precedent and justification for both continuing the erosion of the Constitution and abolishing the rights it provides to all Americans:
“If Obama turns out to be nothing more than an usurper who has fraudulently seized control of the Presidency, not only will the Constitution have been egregiously flouted, but also this whole country could be, likely will be, destroyed as a consequence. And if this country is even credibly threatened with destruction, every American will be harmed—irretrievably, should the threat become actuality—including those who voted or intend to vote for Obama, who are also part of We the People. Therefore, in this situation, any and every American must have “standing” to demand—and must demand, both in judicial fora and in the fora of public opinion that Obama immediately and conclusively prove himself eligible for “the Office of President.”
Not anything about Obama’s ineligibility is either a surprise or an accident.
As it turned out, Senator John McCain was the perfect Republican opponent for Obama. Although the argument is now moot, McCain also had questionable eligibility under the natural born citizen clause of the Constitution.
The controversy surrounding McCain’s eligibility was perfectly exploited by Obama’s allies in the main stream media and by liberal legal scholars both of whom feigned sincerity in their quest to interpret correctly the text and the intent of the Constitution.
The charade continued on the floor of the Senate, where Republicans and Democrats colluded by passing the non-binding and phony Senate Resolution 511 declaring John McCain a natural born citizen and, thereby, providing Obama the smokescreen he needed to circumvent the Constitution.
So when SR 511 was passed in a non-recorded vote on April 30, 2008, the fix was in and Congress lowered an iron curtain of silence about Obama’s ineligibility, which has continued to this day.
Every U.S. president who was born after 1787, except Barack Obama and Chester A. Arthur, was born in the United States, of parents who were both U.S. citizens at the time of the candidate’s birth i.e. a natural born citizen.
It seems that Obama is using the same playbook that Chester Arthur did.
In 1880, Chester Arthur was elected Vice President, but voters seemed unaware that, when he was born, his father had not yet become a naturalized U.S. citizen and, therefore, Chester Arthur was not eligible to be Vice President. Arthur assumed the Presidency on September 19, 1881 after the assassination of President James Garfield.
While running for Vice President, Chester Arthur told outright lies and later burned nearly all of his family records thereby obscuring the fact that, when he was born, his father was a British subject and not a U.S. citizen.
Chester Arthur knew he was ineligible and acted accordingly. Likewise, Congress can claim neither ignorance nor honesty.
For the first time in US history, a post-1787-born individual, who was born of a non-U.S.-citizen parent and received, at birth, foreign nationality (British) from that parent, was knowingly elected President.
Perhaps Congress fears the turmoil, which will undoubtedly occur if Obama is removed from office. We cannot, however, expect to rely on the rule of law in the future by violating it today.
That type of threat evokes another historical anecdote. Prior to America’s entry into World War I, a German diplomat warned US Ambassador James Gerard that if America entered the war against Germany, 500,000 German-Americans stood ready to rise up against their adopted country.
In that case, Gerard responded, the U.S. had 500,000 lampposts from which to hang them.
Lawrence Sellin Most recent columns
© Canada Free Press 2011
Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. is a recently retired colonel with 29 years of service in the US Army Reserve. He is a veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Lawrence Sellin, Ph.D. receives hate mail at lawrence.sellin@gmail.com
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