Analysis Of A More Perfect Constitution By Virginia Larry J. Sabato
A More Perfect Constitution A More Perfect Constitution is a book by political analyst and professor at the University of Virginia Larry J. Sabato. In it, Sabato scrutinizes 23 aspects of the United States Constitution and provides detailed solutions to make up for its weaknesses. Two examinations, that of the natural-born citizen requirement to become president, and the prospect of a required national service program are of particular interest for further thought.
Mini-Paper 1: The Natural-Born Requirement is No Longer Required
When the Framers wrote the Constitution, their main intent was to protect the young new country from tyranny like its citizens had experienced while under British rule. This included keeping the influence of foreigners
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soil is that this rule is unclear. Citizenship is not equivalent to natural-born. Therefore, this excludes American children born overseas on vacation, missionary work, or to parent(s) stationed overseas in the military. On top of this, the requirement excludes 13% of America’s honorable citizens (Larry J. Sabato, A More Perfect Constitution). People that have immigrated to the United States make up over 40 million people in the country and over 30,000 of those serve in its military but are not allowed to be Commander-in-Chief. Sabato’s solution is to change the wording in the constitution in order to eliminate the natural-born ruling and specify that any citizen of 20 years can qualify for …show more content…
In times of duress, the government has often required a nationwide calls-to-arms to unify its people toward a common goal: stimulating the economy by creating of government jobs with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps in the depths of the Great Depression or the nationwide military draft for young men of 18 years of age that persisted until the Vietnam War. Programs of required service have long been promoted for “In exchange for the privileges of American citizenship, every individual has obligations to meet...and posterity to keep”, according to author and political science expert Larry J. Sabato. This ideal is essential to the culture of the United States, but implementing a required national service program is economically unsound and oversteps the fundamental American value of
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