By Douglas J. Hagmann
“No one cares about the birther issue.” That’s what I am being told by nearly everyone I know, regardless of their political preference. What I hear, however, is no one cares about the U.S. Constitution, or about the rule of law. Seemingly, even fewer understand it. Fewer still are those who truly understand what’s at stake.
Eligibility requirements to hold the office of President of the United States are defined by the Constitution. The “natural born citizen” requirement was written in to the U.S. Constitution to protect our nation from foreign influence. It was written to protect our nation from being hijacked from within.
That seems like a pretty important legal requirement to me, considering that today, we’ve found ourselves in an epic battle between national and global (or arguably foreign) interests.
Isn’t this precisely what the 2016 election represents?
The “birther” issue is not just about where a person was born, although that’s what nearly everyone with an opinion and a microphone or a keyboard want you to believe. It’s much bigger. It’s about adhering to the Constitution and about allegiance to our nation and its citizens. It’s about making sure that the person holding the most powerful office in our nation has our best interests at heart.
Hardly anyone cares about the birther issue because they don’t understand it. They’ve been deceived by the intellectually dishonest or the intellectually deficient. The former consists of those whose agenda is to fold our nation into a system of global governance. The latter includes those who have fallen victim to the lies and deception of the former. Both have reduced a critically important issue to ridiculously misleading sound bites eagerly embraced by a tired public.
The “birtherism” battle is unwinnable as it currently exists, for the enemy within has been allowed to redefine the terms of the issue, much like a very deceitful Bill Clinton attempted to redefine the word “is” when asked a very simple and direct question. This painfully illustrated the epitome of hubris and lawlessness, yet most people seemed to laugh it off. Why? Because the main issue was redefined and the issue became about sex when it was really about perjury and contempt.
Words have not only been redefined, but equally important, they’ve been weaponized. They’ve been added to an arsenal of accusations for expedient use against anyone who truly cares about our nation and our Constitution. This is clearly evident by the pejorative terms that have been manufactured and made part of our current lexicon to describe the legal issue, such as “birther,” and “birtherism,” as well as the baseless accusations of racism that follow.
Many will argue that the entire issue is moot, for it only relates to the candidacy and tenure of Barack Hussein Obama II, and his days in the Oval Office are now in the double digits. I contend that it remains not only relevant, but is still critically important.
The matter of Constitutional eligibility might be focused on one man, but he did not ascend to power alone. There are layers of criminality here. Those who have perpetuated this criminal conspiracy will remain in power long after Obama has taken his leave. Perhaps their representative or a co-conspirator will be the next person to assume control of the Oval Office.
It’s not just about the man. We need to think bigger, to look at the larger picture. We must not allow the conversation to be hijacked any further. We must regain control of the conversation, and eliminate the use of manufactured pejoratives. Only then will we be able to regain control of our country.
I ask again: Isn’t this precisely what the 2016 election represents?