ARTICLE II of the Constitution declares that “No person except a natural-born citizen … shall be eligible to the office of president.” This undemocratic provision could prevent voters from selecting their top choice, be it Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Austrian-born governor of California, or Jennifer Granholm, the Canadian-born governor of Michigan.
We cannot just wish away inconvenient constitutional language. Clearly, a child born in a foreign country to two non-American parents cannot ascend to the nation’s highest office. But does the Constitution also prohibit John McCain — who was born to two Americans in the Panama Canal Zone in 1936, while his father served in the Navy — from becoming president?
