American Political System: Difference between revisions
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Actually, ''all'' elections are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in the month of the election. This has historical reasons: the founding fathers didn't want the election to fall on the first of the month, and (depending on who you ask) they either (a) didn't want elections on Monday because most people would be too hungover from weekend binge drinking to be able to vote properly; or (b) because you had to go to the county seat to vote (which could take a day or two in rural areas), and you couldn't have it be a Monday (because that would entail leaving on Sunday) or Wednesday (which was a market day in many parts of the country and people would be too busy to vote).
Historically, the president is a White Protestant, though not always. [[John F. Kennedy]] was Catholic, which was a big deal, and
Article 2, clause 5 of the Constitution doesn't really go into race or gender, probably because in 1787 it was assumed that candidates would always be white men, but it does have some qualifications:
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* Natural born citizen (read: US citizen by birth, rather than by naturalization) OR citizen at the time the Constitution was adopted. The latter was necessary because at the time of the Constitution's adoption, the United States had only existed for 7 years, meaning that the election of 1812 was the first in which it was mathematically possible for a natural born citizen to meet the 35 years of age requirement, and going for more than 20 years without a President was obviously not an option.
Note the requirement is technically a little more flexible than "only native-born", but unless you were alive in September 1787 ''and'' living between the Mississippi River and the Atlantic Ocean, it's pretty much limited to the native born. Either way, John McCain (who was born in the Panama Canal Zone) qualifies. <ref>"Any person born in the Canal Zone on or after February 26, 1904, and whether before or after the effective date of this chapter, whose father or mother or both at the time of the birth of such person was or is a citizen of the United States, is declared to be a citizen of the United States."--8 USC § 1403</ref>
One can be born anywhere on Earth (or space) and still be a "natural born citizen" of the US if at least one of your parents is an American citizen who has lived in the US for five years. A person born within the territorial boundaries of the United States is a natural-born citizen regardless of parentage, unless said person's parents are foreign diplomats or members of an invading force. 2016 Republican Primary candidate Ted Cruz was born in Canada, but had US citizenship at birth because his mother was an American citizen and was generally considered, though was challenged on this, to be eligible.▼
The only two Presidents that have actually been challenged in any way under the terms of eligibility to date are Barack Obama and Chester A. Arthur. Challengers to Obama claim that he was actually born in Kenya, and that his Hawaiian birth certificate and newspaper birth announcements were forgeries,
▲One can be born anywhere on Earth (or space) and still be a "natural born citizen" of the US if at least one of your parents is an American citizen who has lived in the US for five years. A person born within the territorial boundaries of the United States is a natural-born citizen regardless of parentage, unless said person's parents are foreign diplomats or members of an invading force.
▲The only two Presidents that have actually been challenged in any way under the terms of eligibility to date are Barack Obama and Chester A. Arthur. Challengers to Obama claim that he was actually born in Kenya, and that his Hawaiian birth certificate and newspaper birth announcements were forgeries, no doubt by the same people who orchestrated the Area 51 coverup. He eventually got so annoyed with this that he released his long-form birth certificate, then [[Crowning Moment of Funny|splashed it on a mug with the slogan "Made in the USA"]] and [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|killed]] [[Osama Bin Laden]] about two days later, which effectively shut up all but the [[Vocal Minority|noisiest]] of the "birther theorists."
Chester A. Arthur was accused by Arthur Hinman of being born in Ireland. No one took up that story, so Hinman then accused Chester of being born in Canada. Nobody could decide which was worse, so they elected Chester Vice President.
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