Rand Paul and the Fourteenth Amendment

Rand Paul, Tea Party hero and candidate for U.S. Senate (R - KY), has become more cautious lately, after that initial debacle about the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Worried about "gotcha" questions from the mainstream media (like "what newspapers and magazines do you read?"), Paul has been avoiding direct answers about his extremist political views. And like Sharron Angle in Nevada, he's been granting extended interviews only to right-wing media, where he's guaranteed softball questions.

Nevertheless, Paul's opinions are so extremely radical, he's having a hard time hiding them completely. Recently, he suggested amending the U.S. Constitution to remove the 14th Amendment guarantee of citizenship for anyone born in America. The idea is to deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants, even when those children are born in this country.

Now think about that. Think about what kind of country we want. Rand Paul's America would be one with a permanent underclass of non-citizens. Obviously, this would not deter most illegal immigrants, if it deterred any at all. But their children would not be citizens, and their children's children would not be citizens. We'd be creating a permanent underclass in this country - an underclass of Americans in all but name who constantly feared discovery and expulsion.

Think about it. What kind of society would this create? Instead of "one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all," we'd have a nation of two separate populations, one entitled to liberty and justice and one not. And the fact that this underclass would be almost entirely Hispanic would make it even worse. We'd have a government-sanctioned racial division of America for the first time since the end of segregation and worse than anything since the end of slavery. Is that the kind of America you want? I certainly don't!

And how would we enforce this? Could you really prove that your parents were American citizens, especially if that depended on whether or not their parents were citizens, and their grand-parents before that? Almost inevitably, it would become a matter of national identity cards and other favorites of authoritarian regimes (and the corruption that would come along with them). Meanwhile, who would really have to prove their citizenship, as a practical matter? Yup, Hispanic Americans. I don't know if my German and Irish ancestors were here legally or not, but I wouldn't be needing to demonstrate that, would I? Only Hispanic Americans would need to worry about proving their citizenship.

Racists are in favor of proposals like this, because they're terrified that white men are losing their privileged position in this country. You wouldn't see this concern about illegal immigration if they were Englishmen, Germans, or Swedes. Obviously, this hysteria has erupted now because of the symbolism of our first black president. (The "birther" mania is another symptom of that.)

But it's far too late for that now. Like it or not, we're a diverse nation and we're getting more diverse all the time. Trying to legislate an upper class will only destroy what America stands for. We're far better off teaching all children what it means to be an American - and that it has nothing to do with the color of your skin, what language you speak at home, or your holiday traditions. Bigotry has a long, sad history in this country, but it is fundamentally un-American.

PS. Due to a family emergency, posting is likely to be a rather light this week. And next week, I might need to be catching up on other chores. So please bear with me.