Stephen Gottlieb

The US Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments about whether the Citizenship Clause of the 14th Amendment means what it says, that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”

Let’s do some comparison.

There were two animating ideas to the Trump/MAGA campaign. They claimed that America was number 1 and should stay that way.

Office workers regularly ask me when I was born. I typically respond that I have no memory of being born and ask if they do. It’s all hearsay – whatever our parents told us.

You frequently hear people say we can’t do that because there’s no money – nothing in the budget, nothing available. I think it’s important to understand that’s nonsense.

Off to a meeting in Washington, I slipped and fell in a D.C. hotel over a month ago, breaking my left femur. The ambulance took me to the hospital where President Reagan was treated after being shot by a would-be assassin.

Some of those who call themselves conservatives don’t seem to want to share the country with a portion of us who have grown up thinking we are all American.

What’s going on with the freedom of speech and the right to attack the policies or behavior of those in charge?

The Old Testament commands we treat our neighbors as ourselves for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. I see too little respect for that biblical command honored both here and abroad, but I wish good people everywhere a happy, healthy, peaceful New Year.

Those who wrote and ratified the Constitution sometimes called its protections “parchment barriers” – meaning the paper and words on it couldn’t do much unless people supported it.