P.O. Box 43578 | Oakland, CA 94624-0578 | 1.510.777.1214 | info@amritkohli.net | @musicthatworks
January 24th, 2014
Amrit Kohli
P.O. Box 43578
Oakland, CA 94624-0578
United States Senator Barbara Boxer
Office of U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer
70 Washington Street, Suite 203
Oakland, CA 94607
Dear Senator Boxer,
I am as American as any of you who were born here. Once i have achieved 14 consecutive years of residency in the United States of America and 35 years of American Citizenship, I will be in equal standing as any native-born American to run for the Presidency of the United States of America. While I know this requires a Constitutional Amendment to be possible, it is my contention that Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution creates an inequity between immigrants and natively born Americans.
The terms of Article II demand that a natively born American be 35 years old and a United States resident for 14 years prior to running for President. So, I see no difference between an immigrant who has been a citizen for 35 years and has been a resident of the United States of America for 14 years. These are equal Americans who should be granted equal rights under the United States Constitution, up to and including the ability to be President or Vice-President of the United States of America.
My inequality in America is to end when I am 46 years old, for that will be when I will have been an American Citizen for 35 years. At that point, I will have earned my equality and should not be denied my equality simply because of my birthplace. The same measures of readiness for duty to serve as the President would apply to me; there would be no difference whatsoever between the quality of and the relevance of my American Citizenship as opposed to any other natively-born American Citizen.
I challenge anyone to assert that there is a difference between me at 46 years of age (which will be when I will have been an American Citizen for 35 years) and a natively-born American at 35 years of age. I contend that there is no difference. And on this basis, I am suggesting that the States ratify the 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Article II, Section 1 currently reads:
"No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States."
AMENDMENT 28 TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION
Let it be the will of the People of the United States of America that Article II, Section 1 of the United States Constitution be amended as follows:
"No person except a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution and thereafter, shall be eligible to the Office of the President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty-five Years for natural born Citizens or to the Duration of Citizenship of thirty-five Years for foreign-born Citizens, and been fourteen consecutive years a Resident within the United States."
I submit this Amendment to the 50 states of the United States of America for consideration and ratification.
Duly submitted on this 24th Day of January in the Year of the Lord, 2014.
I hope I do not need to remind you that you are my elected representative and that it is not your place to judge this proposal for an Amendment to the United States Constitution. It is your duty, as my elected representative, to place this amendment before the United States Senate for consideration. Judgement will be made by the People through their elected representatives who will either vote to ratify this amendment or they will not.
Sincerely,
