Natural Born In The Political or Racial Eye Of The Beholder?

A part of the nasty side of politics has involved race, besides political beliefs or affiliation. This subject has been a part of American politics, both directly and indirectly, since the nation's birth, with periods of red hot intensity, including the lead up to the Civil War, the war itself, and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In more recent years it has been about a Black American (actually black and white mixed), with a then relatively atypical name, twice running for, and twice winning, the presidency, a feat that has been unacceptable to some insecure Americans. The thing is, politics is often, if not always, driven by emotion and political views, not rational, robot-like consideration of facts, proposals, or plans, not that facts, proposals and plans make no difference. For instance, with Barack Obama's run for the presidency came the charge that he was not born in the United States, a charge which continued long after he had won election to the nation's highest office, and I'm sure a charge which still festers in some minds to this day.* With public documents and public officials attesting to Obama's birth in Hawaii (to an American mother and Kenyan father), coupled with birth announcements in newspapers from there, a large majority of Americans, led by Democrats and independents, accepted the evidence and tried to move on, only to have a minority keep the issue in the news.** I do want to point out, former Republican presidential candidate John McCain was born to American parents in the Panama Canal Zone, then under American control, but not in the U.S. proper. While McCain faced some scrutiny over his birthplace in his runs for the presidency, he never faced the fierce scrutiny given to Obama, although McCain never became president in his attempts for the office. Further, Ted Cruz, a potential Republican presidential candidate, was born in Canada in 1970 to an American mother and a then Cuban father (the father became an American citizen in 2005). It remains to be seen how much, if any, scrutiny Cruz may receive about his birth, but at the moment, the political right "seems" not to care much where Cruz was born. ***

Clearly a person's political views, and at times, a person's racial views, define their acceptance or rejection of certain evidence and what constitutes a legal definition for certain issues.

* Those believing Barack Obama to be foreign born are often dubbed "Birthers."

** There have been lots of public opinion polls (see Politico, the National Journal, Gallup, Harris Poll) on Obama's birthplace status, but in polls from  2009 to early 2011 "generally" about a quarter of Republicans said they believed him to be foreign-born, with about a similar number of Republicans saying they weren't sure of his birthplace.  

*** To be clear, or maybe "unclear," the issue of what the Constitution means about the requirement for a president to be a "natural born citizen" has never been clarified by the U.S. Supreme Court, so questions of interpretation remain. It is worth remembering, some early American presidents were not born in the United States, but rather in what were then British colonies. The late Barry Goldwater, a former Republican nominee for president in 1964, was born in Arizona, before it became a state. George Romney, the father of Mitt Romney, was born to two American parents in Mexico, and George Romney ran in Republican primaries for president in the 1960s.

WORD HISTORY:
Nature-This word goes back to Indo European "gen/gn," which had the notion "create, produce, give birth." This gave Latin "nasci," which meant "to come from, to be born," which then produced Latin "natus," meaning "born." This then gave Latin "natura," with the meanings "origin, characteristic(s) given by birth," then passed on to Old French, a heavily Latin-based language, as "nature." English borrowed the word from French in the 1200s. The "origin and characteristics" meaning broadened to include the meaning "the universe, the world, creative force." Usages include, "That guy is an athlete by nature;" that is, "he was born that way." Also, "It's just her nature to be skeptical," a meaning "assuming" she was born that way, which may or may not be true, but we most certainly say things like that. And also, "It was awful to see the lions kill the zebra, but that's just nature," using "nature" as the "creative force" bestowing the characteristic on the lions.