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Today's Poll: Should the president be able to strip terrorists of their citizenship?

By Howard B. Owens
Julie A Pappalardo

I am in too much of a hurry to look it up, but...Isn't it a violation of international law to strip someone of thier citizenship UNLESS they have dual citizenship with another country? I'm pretty sure you can't just leave someone without a country. I think its easier to just kill them. These people are like rabid dogs, and rabid dogs get put down.

Oct 24, 2014, 9:02am Permalink
Dave Olsen

Yeah, the President doesn't have enough power already, let's give him some more. The office of President has become far removed from the Constitutional limits originally placed, one person should never have the powers he already assumes, let alone more. And I'm not talking about Obama, I'm referring to whomever sits in the chair. This Ted Cruz guy would be an even bigger mistake in the White House than Obama, and I didn't think that possible. Where does it end?

Oct 24, 2014, 10:02am Permalink
Tim Miller

Amazing... 5 out of 6 Batavian readers, most of whom are pretty consistent in decrying that the government has too much power, want to give one person the ability to disenfranchise a citizen?

I certainly hope that each and every one of you who voted "yes" never, ever criticize a sitting president or do something else that could be manipulated into being considered terroristic....

Oct 24, 2014, 10:35am Permalink
Ed Hartgrove

"... president be able to strip terrorists of their citizenship?"

I wouldn't let the current president strip wallpaper. Egotistical Incompetent!

Oct 24, 2014, 12:11pm Permalink
Greg Rada

So any American citizen can be stripped of all his/her rights and freedoms based on being classified as a terrorist?

No court, no person, NO POWER should ever have this ability!

I don't care who or what or how. We have rules and laws we abide by. To try to make a loop hole so we can by pass our founding standards and moral lines is ludicrous. It devalues all we hold and gives way to more power manipulation and government control. Just the thought of it makes me sick.

Oct 24, 2014, 12:18pm Permalink
Scott Ogle

I'm with John Roach on this: if such an action is taken, it should be a matter before a court of law. It's a trivial matter really -- it's Ted Cruz being an utter hack. Revocation of a passport might be a better tool.

Oct 24, 2014, 12:19pm Permalink
Cheryl Saville

I am astounded by the number of yes votes. The answer to this question (as framed) should be "NO" Give no more power to the President than the Founders did!

Oct 24, 2014, 1:33pm Permalink
tom hunt

If a court of law stripped an individual of his citizenship, I as a taxpayer would gladly pay for a one way trip ticket to his/her choice of a Muslim country. No return accepted.

Oct 24, 2014, 3:28pm Permalink
Kyle Couchman

Well I voted a reserved No. I dont think the President should be able to do this.

I do believe that a citizen who becomes a terrorist should be expatriated as quickly as possible with all due process by military tribunal or federal court. These people could also be tried under treason laws already in place and then Julie Pappalardo's solution of putting them down after a treason trial might be viable.

Oct 24, 2014, 5:28pm Permalink
mathew pribek

They are free to renounce their citizenship. I would also fear a government that is able to accuse a person, then revoke their rights to due process. Picture it: Americans getting blackbagged right off our streets and sent to Gitmo. Don't even ask when the trial is or you might soumd like a sympathizer...

Oct 25, 2014, 11:19am Permalink
Raymond Richardson

Mathew,

This is nothing new. The Government has been striping citizens of their rights since this country's birth.

How many blacks were included in the founding father's theory of all men are created equal? None.

How about Japanese-Americans, who were striped of their rights of due process when they were herded into internment camps in 1942 for no other reason than their ancestral roots?

How about the thousands of American's rights in the 1950s, when they were labeled a communist by Sen. Jo McCarthy?

Those are just a few of the many instances that American's rights were trampled on by the Government.

George Carlin said it best: "and rights aren't rights if someone can take em away. They're privileges. That's all we've ever had in this country is a bill of TEMPORARY privileges; and if you read the news, even badly, you know the list get's shorter, and shorter, and shorter. "

Oct 26, 2014, 8:17am Permalink
C. M. Barons

Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. coined the term, "Imperial Presidency," in 1973 with the publication of his book by the same title. We credit George Washington with insisting on a title humbler than king and powers subordinate to the will of the legislature. His imposition of strict neutrality during the Anglo-French War defied anti-British, pro-France leanings of many members of the Third Congress. Our two-party tendency, prone to indecisive margins of dominance by either faction; efficiency of the pyramid organizational structure and the natural preference for less complexity and more charisma all fly in the face of our Constitutional design. Why the heck would anyone want to hand one person the power to rescind citizenship? ...Especially a partisan individual! How many 12-packs of Busch beer were consumed prior to that nugget of wisdom?

Oct 27, 2014, 11:40am Permalink

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