Birthers

and while I've tried my hardest to ignore this utterly stupid phenomenon known as the birther movement, it's stuck around way too long for that to happen.

Article 2, Clause 5 of the Constitution states that only a "natural born Citizen" of the U.S. may become its president. I understand that. There is no doubt that Barack Obama fits this qualification and it's insulting that this is even an issue. He was born in Hawaii, just like our past presidents have been born in Connecticut, Arkansas, Massachusetts, and Illinois. With the economy still experiencing the throes of recession, our bohemoth healthcare system in need of serious attention, and our environment and climate facing unimaginable dire straits, why are we focusing on an insane but persistent (and LOUD) minority of theorists who question this?

Taken at face value, it appears to me that the only reason why these rabid conspiracy theorists have raised this issue is because they are desperate. In a society where information is free and only a click away, they no longer have domain over information on UFO's, Bigfoot, or David Ortiz's urine samples. Almost everyone has access to the same basic information. This access to information allows more crackpots to spin fantastical yarns on obscure web sites. It lessens their individual impact (unless your last name is Beck, Limbaugh, or O'Reilly) while magnifying the impact of a group as a whole. However, this horrendous din of the birther movement has a more sinister underbelly.

Their argument is unlikely to be based on a love of the Constitution; rather, it is based on a vicious undertone of jingoism that runs counter to the very fabric of the principles our nation was founded upon and which, at its best, it thrives on today. It insinuates that only one who is blessed by birth in the United States is worthy of leading it. By doing so, it places those of us born elsewhere who, by fate or choice, came to this country to build a better life, in a secondary caste, unworthy of aspiring to lead our country at the highest level.

Many birthers will assert that they are only defending the Constitution of their country. And every citizen has that right and should take part in its defense. But there are many juicier, more substantive Constitutional issues out there that require the efforts of those on both sides to interpret. But that won't get you on Lou Dobbs.