The real issues in the Republican Party

Submitted by Michael S (United States), May 10, 2016 at 19:05

Hello, Kaarsten

I don't believe there are many "birthers" left here (in the US), in the Republican Party or elsewhere. President Obama repeatedly inflamed the issue, by never producing a certificate of live birth to say he had actually been born in Hawaii and not in Kenya. Since then, after many failed attempts, the issue has been settled in the courts. In Mr. Obama's case, the issue of birth overseas was complicated by the other issues; because not only was his mother going back and forth to Africa in those days, and hard to pin down, Obama was reported to have received a university scholarship as an "overseas student". His keeping his academic records secret as well, added to the aura of conspiriacy.

The pertinent fact in the case of Mr. Obama, of Ted Cruz, of Mitt Romney and of John McCain, all of which had questions raised about whether or not they were "Natural Born" US citizens, is that in every case, one of the parents was a natural-born US citizen; and barring unusual factors to the contrary, the natural-born child of a US citizen is a US citizen, no matter where he or she was born. These are laws peculiar to the US; other countries have entirely different rules on the matter.

I don't see any hypocrisy involved here. Mr. Trump consistently questioned the constitutionality of both Obama and Cruz, and seems to be satisfied with the latest court decisions.

You will have to be more clear, when talking about a "large segment of the Republican Party". The most pertinent division of the Republican Party today is between those who will support the Party's nominee in November, and those who are having "hissy fits" about the matter.

In the "Hissy Fit" category, are prominent names from YESTERYEAR: former Presidents George HW Bush, George W Bush -- along with "W"'s brother Jeb -- and losing Presidential Candidates John McCain and Romney.

In the "Support the Nominee" category are 2016 candidates Ben Carson, Chris Christie and Mike Huckabee, former V\P Candidate Sarah Palin, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich -- all of them favorites of the "Tea Party", Conservative wing of the party, along with former Speaker of the House John Boehner and former Presidential candidate Bob Dole.

Current House Speaker and former VP Candidate Paul Ryan is sitting on the fence, along with defeated Republican Presidential Candidates Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ted Cruz.

There are others, such as our own Daniel Pipes, who are struggling with the idea of even being Republicans. I would not put Daniel in any of the above categories. He has never been a "birther", has worn with pride the "neocon" label, and has probably been attacked by pundits more than Trump, Bush and Obama combined. Even I often disagree with him; but I support him because he is an honest man who supports Israel and the Jewish people.

Among the filthy Rich, Jeff Bezos and Michael Bloomberg oppose Nominee Trump; Larry Ellison and the Koch brothers are ambivalent, Carl Icahn supports the nominee. The other "big boys" are mostly Democrats -- and "big girls" too, like Alice Walton.

You should be able to see by this, that the "Birther" issue is not very important in this campaign; and neither, for that matter, is Ted Cruz. The more important issue appears to be whether or not the Bushes and the well-funded Establishment will continue to dominate the Republican Party. If Trump wins, it will be a real changing of the guard.

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