Who Watches the Watchmen?

Friends, and I say this because I have friends who are "Birthers". I have heard many say that President Obama should have shown his birth certificate then "all of this would have been done." Friends, here's my question, to whom should he have shown his birth certificate? Yes, that's it, who should have seen it? I don't think it should be Donald Trump.

So what qualifies someone to become President? Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution sets the principal qualifications one must meet to be eligible for the Presidency. The President must be a natural born citizen of the United States who is at least thirty-five years old and been a permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years.

As for what it means to be a "natural born citizen," this didn't become contentious until after the Civil War with Reconstruction. It became a sticking point because suddenly potential presidents, citizens of the Southern United States, had sworn allegiance to a foreign power, the Confederate States of America.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution defined citizenship primarily in the first sentence of Section 1: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside." The rest of the amendment dealt with reconstruction issues and certainly not to any person born after 1868.

In fact, the Fourteenth Amendment made the term "natural born citizen" obsolete.

Here's the end: According to this State of Hawaii Certificate of Live Birth Barack Obama was born in the state of Hawaii (not a territory since 1959) and is a citizen of the US.

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What is missing from the constitution is who checks these qualifications for each candidate? Why? Because until Barack Obama there hasn't been a major party candidate suspected of not meeting these eligibility criteria. This brouhaha came up because nobody knew the answer to the question "Who watches the watchmen?"

As for me, I assumed (yes, I know what that means) that whether it be in his home state of Illinois, or whoever certifies ballots before the primary or general election, or Hillary Clinton, or the Democratic Party itself; I assumed someone, somewhere asked if he was a citizen and found a satisfactory answer.

This is who's supposed to check this stuff out, whether by law or by simple common sense. Then again, what's so common anymore.

Why isn't anyone else asking if this was checked out before we voted? Pundips (my combined word for "pundit" and "dip$#!%") everywhere have barked at the President, I haven't heard of anybody who has asked about those who were supposed maintain the integrity of our federal elections. Then again, you get more mileage complaining about the President then you get complaining about a faceless bureaucrat leading a faceless bureau.

Friends, it's time to watch the watchmen.

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And if the presentation of this Certificate of Live Birth isn't enough, if you suspect it's a fraud, well then SUE! Don't be Trump and make a media circus of "checking its authenticity yourself." I would think that any citizen would have the right to ask in court if their President was born in this country or not. Somewhere there's a lawyer who would love to take this to either Congress or the Supreme Court or both. In a land of Checks and Balances there's someone who should be willing to host this lawsuit. Quit complaining and do something! SUE 'EM! Get your answers outside of the court of public opinion and put it in a court with the teeth to do something within the law to enforce the law.

That's how we do things in a nation of laws.