Citizenship

If someone is born on one side of an imaginary line, they're a citizen of the United States. On the other side, they're not. And there's a constant flood of people across the borders trying to have children inside the US seeking citizenship. Does this make sense to anyone?

It's not like that in many other places. In Russia, you might be born in Russia -- in fact your family may have lived in Russia for generations -- but you're not Russian unless you're ethnicly Russian or naturalized (the principle of jus sanguinius.)

We in the US spend a lot of time and money debating whether or not to intervene in other countries. And it's complicated: even dictators have their supporters. And even people that don't really support the dictator may have reservations about a foreign power sending military forces into their country. At the same time, what right do we have to intervene militarily in other countries?

I suggest an alternate path: we should offer US citizenship to anyone in the world who swears allegiance and starts paying taxes. And once the majority of people in another country (or region) are US citizens, they could hold a referendum and join the United States. Once they're US citizens, it gives us a much greater range of options. And, if they aren't ready to join the United States, it lets us off the hook trying to fix their problems.