[Political Junkie Too]

He makes the comparison to imply that we are the opposite. You conveniently stopped short of the next sentence "In England the person who exercises prerogative is often a foreigner; always half a foreigner, and always married to a foreigner. He is never in full natural or political connection with the country..."

In context, it is clear that Paine is juxtaposing the open British monarchy with the closed American executive, "open" meaning accessible to "foreigners" and "half a foreigner," where the American executive is closed to both. One cannot be in "full natural... connection with the country" if one parent is not a citizen.

-PJ

[DoodleDawg]

In context, it is clear that Paine is juxtaposing the open British monarchy with the closed American executive, "open" meaning accessible to "foreigners" and "half a foreigner," where the American executive is closed to both. One cannot be in "full natural... connection with the country" if one parent is not a citizen.

Clear as mud. Paine only says that the President is never a foreigner. Not a half-foreigner, a foreigner. And nobody disputes that. The President is a natural born citizen and not foreign born.