There is so much extraneous and deceptive opinions as to the birth requirements for POTUSA at this point in our history that confusion abounds. It is too bad that so many people with their various opinions did not come forth when Obama was running and elected. So much of the conflicting opinions do not stem from actual words or history but instead from personal goals. Your pointing out the fuller context of Wong Kim Ark is a remarkable/notable example of such.
The history has always been available for anybody with the inclination to do the research. I was amazed the first few times I studied a legal issue "in depth," and found that the courts were fabricating the contents of precedent. If courts do it (to achieve the outcome they want) it should be no surprise that the general public does it even more.
And the ones with ears plugged tightest tend to be the most strident defenders, of the outcome they want. Same tactics as courts, cherry-pick from precedent, change the burden of proof, and even redefine the meaning of words.
We are drowning in an ocean of bad opinions based on bad facts and bad thinking. The worst of it is the tendency of some people to falsely equate one thing with another.
It is too bad that so many people with their various opinions did not come forth when Obama was running and elected.
Oh, they did, but many of them were people with opinions based on bad facts and bad thinking. They drowned out the reasonable and sensible opinions with their noise.
So much of the conflicting opinions do not stem from actual words or history but instead from personal goals.
And that is the bottom line. A lot of people have opinions based on what they *WANT* to be true, not on what is demonstrably true.
Your pointing out the fuller context of Wong Kim Ark is a remarkable/notable example of such.
I'd like to take the credit for spotting that, but I think it was Ray76 that put me on to it. I just noticed how blatantly it contradicts a lot of people's opinion on the subject. People don't like being confronted with a piece of evidence that contradicts what they wish to believe. Notice the resistance to it's obvious meaning that some people are expressing?