Copyright AL.com
This is an opinion column Too often Republicans, motivated by naivety, self-interest or egos, help Democrats win elections. Such is the “off the charts” proposal to discriminate against naturalized American citizens – a plan advocated by Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, and Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Baldwin (the latter having been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Katie Britt for an open Congressional seat.) In seismic terms, their damage to Republican candidates across America has the potential to reach a cataclysmic “10” on the Richter scale, thereby handing the next White House, House and Senate to socialist Democrats. What have they done that is so egregious? Allen, Chesteen and Marques Teach 19 Million Voters to Hate GOP Allen, Chesteen and Marques are pushing to amend the Alabama Constitution to overtly discriminate against 26 million American citizens nationwide (roughly 74%, or 19 million, are registered voters) and 77,953 Alabama citizens (roughly 70%, or 53,710, are registered voters) and turn these voters into second class citizens who will then be reliably depended on to hate the GOP and bloc-vote Democrat. It doesn’t take a political genius to perceive how quickly a bloc Democrat vote by 19 million Americans, and 53,710 Alabamans, can very quickly shift countless presidential, congressional, senatorial and other elections to Democrat candidates. The Discrimination Proposal Allen, Marques (who is the bill’s Alabama House sponsor) and Chesteen support Senate Bill 21 to change the Alabama Constitution to deny all naturalized citizens their U.S. Constitutional right to run as a candidate for the Alabama “Offices of Governor; Lieutenant Governor; Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court; judge of the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals or Court of Criminal Appeals; judge of a circuit court or district court; member of the Legislature; Attorney General; State Auditor; Secretary of State; State Treasurer; Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries; member of the State Board of Education; and local sheriff, district attorney, circuit clerk, or constable.” As justification, Secretary of State Wes Allen slyly claims “We are just mirroring what the U.S. Constitution requires of our president and vice president.” Well, in 1789, when that residency requirement was put in the Constitution, the United States was a newly born Republic, a revolutionary war had just been fought, and there was a real concern a foreign-born President or Vice-President elected by an uninformed populace might have more loyalty to his birth country than America. America of 2025 is not America of 1789! Regardless, I submit the real reason for Allen and Marques’ discriminatory proposal is self-serving: it gives them free publicity and a perceived net gain in their Republican primaries for Lt. Governor (Allen) and Congress (Marques). Naturalized citizens are U.S. citizens. Personally, I submit discrimination against American citizens based solely on who they are or where they are from is not only evil and wrong, it is political suicide. But that’s just me. The Result Is Futile and Potentially Catastrophic Regardless of whether you support their discrimination against American citizens (obviously, I don’t), know this: Allen, Chesteen and Marques greatly damage the GOP. And it will only get worse. Here’s why. Even if Allen, Chesteen and Marques’ discriminatory amendment to the Alabama Constitution passes, it won’t survive. It will be killed by federal courts because it violates the 5th and 14th Amendments’ Due Process Clauses. It violates the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. It violates Article I’s Naturalization Clause (which gives Congress, not the states, total control over all aspects of naturalization and citizenship). So, what is the result of Allen, Chesteen and Marques’ discriminatory conduct? Their discrimination against fellow American citizens, who became citizens the right and lawful way, will be struck down by federal courts. They will fail. In the meantime, however, they help convert 19 million registered voters and naturalized American citizens (53,710 of whom live in Alabama) into virulently anti-Republican bloc voters. This damage to the GOP and its candidates could take years if not decades to repair. I assure you from first-hand experience that Democrat campaign strategists are already salivating at informing every naturalized citizen and voter in America how much Allen, Chesteen and Marquest hate them. These same Democrats will argue Allen, Chesteen and Marques’ desire that naturalized citizens be second-class American citizens perfectly mirrors Republican Party values. It wouldn’t surprise me if these same Democrats are so ecstatic that they, in their giddiness, twist the knife in the wound by publicly sending Allen, Chesteen and Marques thank-you notes and gift baskets. My advice to Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, Sen. Donnie Chesteen, R-Geneva, and Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Baldwin, is that they quickly repent, publicly and sincerely say their “mea culpas”, and atone by killing their discriminatory effort. If they act quickly, it might not be too late to minimize the damage they inflict on the GOP. It they don’t act quickly, the challenges facing future Republican candidates all across America will only get worse.
