Episode 049: Our - MY Birthright = Citizenship

In this episode of The Jeremiah Gunn Show on CSN (The Common Sense Network), Jeremiah explores the difference between being a citizen and being a subject—and why that distinction may be one of the most important questions facing America today.

Beginning with reflections on truth-telling, public discourse, and what Jeremiah sees as a cultural and political tipping point, the conversation moves into questions of courage, civic responsibility, and independent thinking. He challenges listeners to reject passive acceptance of official narratives and instead engage critically with the facts, whether discussing January 6, election integrity, media narratives, or the state of public institutions.

The central focus of the episode is a deep dive into birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment, drawing heavily on constitutional history and arguments about the founders’ intent. Jeremiah examines the distinction between British “subjectship” and American citizenship, arguing that the U.S. was founded on the principle of consent—not inherited allegiance—and questioning how that principle applies to modern immigration debates.

Along the way, he reflects on:

•  The difference between truth and narrative
•  Why adult citizens must make reasoned judgments, even when certainty is impossible 
•  The historical roots of American citizenship and allegiance 
•  The original purpose of the 14th Amendment
•  The tension between national sovereignty and globalism 
•  What it means to defend liberty in a constitutional republic 

Blending political commentary, historical references, philosophical observations, and personal stories, Jeremiah invites listeners to think deeply about what America is—and what it risks becoming.

In This Episode

✔ Truth vs. ideology
 ✔ January 6 and public skepticism
 ✔ Election integrity and civic responsibility
 ✔ The Constitution and the meaning of citizenship
 ✔ Birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment
 ✔ National identity, borders, and sovereignty
 ✔ Why citizens—not subjects—must preserve freedom

Listener Takeaway

Are Americans still citizens in the fullest sense—or are we slowly becoming subjects again? This episode asks listeners to consider the responsibilities of citizenship, the importance of truth, and the stakes of preserving constitutional self-government.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

All right. This is the uh Jeremiah Gunn Show. Welcome to This is CSN, the Common Sense Network, part of the ISI broadcasting system. This is Jeremiah Gunn, the Jeremiah Gunn Show. I'm an undocumented expert. Professor No, if you will. I can tell you I can do cansplaining, not mansplaining. Let's get rid of these terms that were invented 15 minutes ago to rule your life. Let's get rid of these battles over words. This program's dedicated to Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk, the great patriot, prophet, hero, martyr. You know, there's a saying that we'll talk about this later, but the Jews are like uh a canary in a coal mine. You know, if you don't know that story, they used to bring up a canary or a type of bird down in the coal mine. They didn't have sophisticated electronic equipment like I used to put in when I would build data centers or server rooms to sense things that are going on in the particular level at the particulate level. Anyway, so they used a bird. When the bird started to keel over, they said, Oh, there's a gas in here that we can't smell. And they'd they'd leave. So so that you know what happens to the Jews happens to everybody else eventually. Right, Germany? That famous that famous, famous poem about when they came for the union members, uh trade unionists, the communists, and Lutherans and all that. You know, uh, I I didn't say anything. And uh and when they came for this group, I didn't say anything, and when they came for this group, I didn't say anything. So so we're in a uh a neo-Nazi revitalist uh revitalization, unfortunately. It's coming out of the grave, and uh but it's on the side that you would hope you wouldn't find it. So that's that's kind of the canary in the coal mine uh analogy. And and that's that is what Charlie Kirk was. All he tried to do was tell people the truth and and very politely, very kindly, very reasonably introduce, reintroduce the age of reason, where people can do something besides emote and hate, but actually just come let us reason together and talk. So that so that's what we're trying to do on the last show. God bless Charlie Kirk. May he be a turning point in America's history, because we're at a tipping point of the slippery slope, and we're we're gonna go down. We're gonna go down uh if we don't fix it. It's simple. This is simple. This is computer logic, it's Boolean algebra, if then else. That's how the most basic computer programs started out. When you would code if then else. Do this. And uh if this happens, this variable, this condition, then do so, you know, do something else. It's that simple. There's nothing written anywhere that this country's gonna last forever. And shame on all you people that call yourselves Judeo-Christians for saying, oh well, you know, oh, praise the Lord, it's just hastening his return, or whatever, whatever it is you want to say. It's not your country to throw in the trash. Okay? So if you're gonna, don't. That's what that's what Biden and Kamala Kamila Kamilala, cackler. The cackler in chief, uh, she said uh that she and Biden both said the same thing. Hey, what's your message to Iran? Don't. Yeah, that worked. That worked about as well as Oblah Blah's red line to Syria or whatever, Lebanon, whoever he gave that to. Don't. Here there's a red line, they cross the red line, and you go, oh, oh, gee. Let me go let me go ask George Soros what to do now. Anyway, so the last show we were talking about how awful, even good ones, even good ones, you know, there's some great people, there's some fine people on both sides, unfortunately. Unfortunately, the the the fine people, the awful, are being useful idiots for the enemy. So they can't, you know, I I gotta tell you, I I flew on a plane right after 9-11. And uh, you know, I told my boss, I'm a little I'm a little uh uh uncomfortable about this, but I want you to know that if anything happens, I had to fly to like DC shortly after that. And I said, I just want you to know, he was a former Marine, that if anything happens on that plane, I want you to tell people that we fought because we're gonna fight. We're not gonna go down. And uh he said, I know. But you know, so I I called my wife from the airplane, and uh yeah, I told her, I said, hey, uh there's this flight attendant. You know, Greg Gutfeld likes to joke that they're all um what what did they used to say, the old timers, light in the loafers? They're all like uh a little bit too effeminate. Um I'm not gonna use the other words that people like to use about such folks. They have an alternative lifestyle. But anyway, how this guy came over. They they even make movies about it. Even secular people make movies about flight attendant, male flight attendants. Okay. I think you're getting my drift, but so I'm I'm watching this guy interact with me and the other people. Wow. Uh anyway, and I said, I said to my wife, I said, if anything happens, um uh uh first thing I'm gonna have to do is like shove this guy out of the way. Because he he ain't gonna be any help. You talk about sky marshals. Uh I don't think, you know, we don't need we don't need people that won't help, okay? And can't. I I just knew it. Anyway, uh that that's a bit of an aside. But um so we're we're talking about the awful, um very nice, calls themselves Judeo-Christian, but just completely on the wrong side. We were just talking about J6, and they're and they're they're doing this thing. It's called a um it's called a discourse regime. Uh I had explained to them why. Because no matter where we went with J6, well, you you know, we don't know. We can't know. We can't know, we can't know. I said, you know, there's there's releasing the names of the people that were the plants for the FBI CIA. Remember, remember I said to her uh this beautiful, wonderful awful, I said, hey, d look look what the FBI did to parents who went to school boards and said, no, thank you. You work for us. You're not gonna do whatever you want to do to take us down. You work for us. And they and the FBI branded them terrorists. And while there were real terrorists everywhere, from the Boston bomber on to the Middle East, taking a toll. These guys were worried about parents who said, Hey, I'd like to kind of have pretty pleas a say in our in what we do to our children. Socrates said, uh what we, or Aristotle, one of those boys, said, what we teach to children, we do to society. Of course. Hitler, Hitler, uh, you know, he he might have been the head of the first teachers' union. He he said, uh, I don't need to worry about the parents. We got the children. They trained the children to turn their parents in. They got a they got a new merit badge when they did that. I mean, this is sick. This is sick. These people are sick. They're our enemies. So so so I'm talking this awful about no matter what I brought up. I said, you know, there's there's a video of people pointing out that, hey, what's this chartered bus pulling up with FBI escorts releasing Antifa into the riot, uh, so-called J6. And and the plants and all this, oh, you don't know that. I said, well, we don't know anything. That's why we get back to this idea about jury duty. Yes, uh, you know, cat timp, awful, unwitting, unknowing awful. We can't know. You you you can't know. That's why when you're on jury duty, they tell you, but but why do you think that you have to flip-flop back and forth between, well, look, you're just in a bubble getting certain information. We're gonna talk about that later today, uh, confirmation bias, so-called. It's a buzzword right now. Well, you're getting sources, you're getting algorithm. You know, yeah, I wish. I wish. But I knew this stuff before I Hillsdale started preaching it, or Victor Davis Hansen, or Greg Gutfeld, or Adam Carolla, or I I already knew it. I just didn't have a platform. And uh I I would tell people at work, I'd tell people at school, I was a coach, but but uh, you know, they they they have to hang on to this thing. Soren Kierkegaard said there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to accept what is true. Very famous meme of Biden with an actual quote. We choose we choose truth over facts. That's correct. You know, sometimes he stumbled over an acorn like a blind squirrel. He'd say something that was really true. Yeah, you do choose truths over facts, your truths, your version of truth over facts. Of course you do. Anyway, that that that there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to accept so what is true. So Scott Adams, brilliant man, brave man. He didn't have a dog in the fight in terms of j Judeo-Christian religious values or anything like that, but he just wanted to defend the truth. He wanted to stand up for the truth. So he talked all about election integrity. He was an expert on software. And uh you know, this other side, the useful idiots that are just buying the lie from the left. Liars, you know, they're they're like, well, you don't know that, you don't know that, you don't know of course, of course, you don't know anything. You don't know any I said, you never will. Here's the wake-up call. You never will. Pick anything you want. JFK, which is a little easier, believe it or not, to to kind of think through and solve as a jury member, uh, compared to uh compared to the walk on the moon, you know, man on landing on the moon. You know, I mean uh if you're gonna believe, or or you know 9-11 was an inside job, whatever it's you're not gonna know anything about any of these things. But you have to when you're on jury duty, they tell you you got you gotta be an adult. We expect you, we know you weren't there, but we expect you to look at all the facts and make the most reasonable decision you can. There's things like Occam's razor and uh Gray's Law and uh Hanlon's razor. That was a corollary. I mean, these things, these things that are are are real simple basic tenets of philosophy. Yes, of course you don't know. But like Scott Adams talking about election integrity, he was an expert on software, and he goes, there's nine million ways that you could cheat. And and you know, we we we moved in uh in an election year, and so we had to so we got the wrong ballots because the genius of California's tyranny, they had to they have to send you a different one for different house, et cetera, et cetera. And they want to mail it in and they want to make sure you vote by mail, but they don't really care who you are, where you are. So anyway, we had to we had to go down to the Registrar of Voters. Oh my God. Oh my God. Just you see that uh Indiana Jones at the end with a Ark of the Covenant is being wheeled into this government warehouse with 90,000 boxes as far as the eye can see. Yeah, that's funny. That's funny, Spielberg. Uh it's funny. Lucas, whoever that was. I think it was collaboration. Anyway, that's funny. But uh Okay. That's exactly what we saw. There the parking lot was filled with pods. They probably had ballots in them. And then we go in and this is just row upon row upon row of bureaucracy, DEIs. I mean, they made the DMV look like uh SpaceX or Tesla. I mean, uh just every interaction with them was a nice- I said to my wife, this is not gonna work. This election's not gonna work. It used to be elections had kind of a control on them because people had to get off their ass, go down, show their ID, read about the issues. Now it's it's a it's it's so so Scott Adams is trying to explain about how if you say that you know the election was fair, he says it's real simple, logically, hyperlogically, it's real simple. You either either you're uh you're you're an imbecile, I think he might have said retarded, you're a liar, uh you're a fool of some kind. Period. That's it. That's all there is to it. Uh and so here here you have somebody, oh I think the election was fair. Oh, you know, he's an election denier. You know, forget about all the other layers of where Hillary was the biggest election denier ever. She there's a there's a little clip of her on like You can run the best campaign in the God, how would she know? And have it stolen from you. That's what she said. Before that, when when she was Slick Willie's uh marriage by arrangement back in his day, she said, There's a vast right-wing conspiracy. You know, famous Rush Limbaugh had a lot of fun with that. He would open some of his shows. And I didn't listen to him. I don't think I ever listened to one show, but he made some great points. He said, Attention, members of the vast right-wing conspiracy. The meeting has been moved from Tuesday to Wednesday at 10 o'clock. Yeah, come on. But this is the reverse barometer. Everything they say is exactly the opposite of what Hillary, Hilary Rotten Klingon's a topic for a whole nother show. But anyway. So so this is there's the two ways to be fooled. This person. Scott Adams said, if you think you oh, I know the election was there's no freaking way. Victor Davis Hansen went through all of the things that uh, you know, like how come Ohio can be dis be done by 10 o'clock, but Michigan, it's almost exactly the same shape, age, demographic, everything. They take three weeks. Uh stuff that happened with the ballots at three in the morning and the security camera, eh, eh, man, man. But forget all of that. It was stolen in a bunch of other ways. We'll do a whole show on on what happened. But my my point is, these awfulles I say, oh, you don't know that. You don't know. Well, right, and you don't either. Can we just admit that? But you have to be an adult. You can't we can't run this country and and by extension the world with children. We can't. That's why the founding fathers in a secular vein did not let them vote. They didn't let children vote. So if an adult is a child, shouldn't vote. And uh in a religious vein, we're the Judeo Christians are commanded act like men, don't be children. Men. It doesn't say act like boys, children, it's act like men. Be courageous. Stick to the truth. Fight for your for your country that your forefathers gave you with their blood and heartache. So there are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn't true, the other is to refuse to accept what is true. I couldn't put it any better than that. Anyway. Um I I saw an e uh I heard a preacher, I think, give a message on the radio about epitaphs. It's very, very interesting. And uh we'll we'll we'll talk about we could do a show just on epitaphs. It's so so interesting. The philosophy and the interaction and the dynamics of it, of this person trying to communicate their last thought and other people passing by and seeing it and so forth. But anyway, there was one that I really liked. It said, uh, I thought it was pretty brilliant. It said, take God seriously, yourself, not at all. So anyway, having said that, this is the only show. This is the only why am I doing this? What are we here for? This is the only show that will tell you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. You know, Scott Adams, Ben Shapiro, uh uh Adam Carolla, Victor Davis Hansen, even the greatest Thomas Sowell. I don't think he has a show, but he's on a guest many, many times. Scott Adams, you know, had a show. He's he's been followed by a show called the Scott Adams School that I think his ex-wife and some people are doing. Um, they can't they can't tell you. They can't tell you everything. I I can. I know their arguments, I know their facts and figures, I know the same as of all the religious people that are out there, like like John John MacArthur, who just passed away, who was on Ben Shapiro telling them things, some true, some not true. So, you know, we talk about this any way you want, but it's it's the only show. Tell me, please, please, point me to someone who is telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and at a level of warning and alarm that needs to happen. That needs to happen. Otherwise, man will make it. Anyway, let's let's let's start talking, okay?

SPEAKER_00 18:40

This is the Ben Shapiro show. Um uh Pledge Allegiance to the Plague and then soft they would have in the course of human invents would be good.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

This is actually this is this is Segastian Bolka. I was a very prominent member of the Trump administration the first time around. But uh now I'm in the background. Not not a lesser role, but actually more important role for Segastin Bolka. I'm like a ninja. I'm in the shadows, but I'm I'm making things happen. That's because I'm Sebasti Segastin Bolka. Anyway, my dad was from New York, and he was very funny. He was a very funny guy. Uh part um you know, my mom was Irish and my dad was uh half Jewish, half Southerner. So um interesting uh being from New York, you know, just just a you know World War II generation. I won't say the greatest generation, because I can't. The greatest was 1776. His generation had one job and they blew it. Sorry. We'll develop that later. But uh anyway, he was a great guy. And he used to, you know, he used to sing when uh you know something from Porgin Bess, uh, you know, I've got plenty of nothing, and nothing is plenty for me, as he was driving us to school or whatever. But anyway, he was a great guy. Great guy. Uh loved him. Uh wrong, wrong, wrong in a lot of areas, unfortunately, but great guy. Anyway, he used to sing this song to us when we were little. It's called Many Brave Hearts. Many brave farts are asleep in the deep. So be were be. Shout out to Thurl Ravenscroft, I think his name was. He did Tony the Tiger and he did the original Grinch. You're a mean one. Mr. Soros. Your heart's an empty hole. Your brain is full of spiders. You've got arsenic in your soul, Mr. Soros. Hey mate, shout out to Jim Carey, too, who did a wonderful job. Fantastic job. Yeah, that was his best work, the uh the new Grinch. You know, when I when I saw I saw they were making, oh, Ron Howard. Tremendous respect for him. He's making a live action version of the Grinch? Are you kidding me? Oh, come on. So I'm walking through Target or something, and they've got a pyramid built out of videos with the video player on top, and it's running the Grinch. And I just stood there and watched for a few minutes. I'm next thing I'm laughing my head off. And my wife comes over, what do you do? I said, This is the Grinch, you know. Anyway, Jim Carey hit it out of the park. He's a bit of a whack job, but man did he nail that. Anyway, uh I forgot to make an announcement here.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Uh Le Segon Le Sanglon de Violon del Ton Blisson Monque de Yun Lange Monotone.

SPEAKER_02 22:00

Le Sangolon Delaton de Violon del Ton Sang Ble Son Monque Langer Manaton That was uh a reference it was a poet there was one time a woman from France a little bit older walking her two little dogs and she told me uh I I read that to her, I recited that to her and she said, Oh, that is the poet Edouard Garou or whatever. And she knew. I said, You know when it was used? When it was used, and she said, No. Uh well yes, in I think in Duel. So this is the resistance. We're behind enemy lines, I'm broadcasting to you, I'm trying to help here, trying to get this thing going. And so there is um when when I was growing up, we had a lot of friends who were um chairmen. We had some that were about a little older than my parents. And so I think my mother she used to babysit for them, their children. So then then and then then later a neighbor who I think was in the Hitler youth, probably judging by what the things that he said and so forth. But there's this wonderful YouTube of this German Coast Guard. It's called the German Coast Guard. I don't know if you've seen it or not, but uh but it is um they have already once played with this uh idea. Uh he's uh it's his first day on the job, he's German, he's the German Coast Guard. And his supervisor uh over Gruppenfuhr Gruppenfuhr, he gave him the instructions on how to use the microphone and all these things and he hears I say Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is the USS I'm sorry, HMS, blah blah. And I say Mayday, Mayday. And he grabs the mic for the very first time and says, um This is the German Coast Guard. That's all that he felt comfortable doing. So the guy says, I repeat, Mayday, Mayday, this is HMS, whatever. And I say we are sinking. I say we are sink. And he comes back on, it's a German Coast Guard says, um what are you thinking about? So it's very funny. It's very funny. You know, German Germanist um Alzogischlafen Horsteich Flugs abgeflogen. Did you know that German is uh uh English came from German. Sixty percent of our words are German. German came through England to us. So um Anglo-Saxons, etc. And so but but German came originally from India. They call it proto in proto-Indo-European languages. So it's kind of funny to think about. Our language goes to England and through Germany via India. It's kind of crazy. There's a great documentary called uh The Story of English, and they had that on there. So um I I was working with a guy one time. He turns out it was in construction, he was a cousin or something, uh brother-in-law or something. He was flat right off the boat from Italy. And I don't know if you've heard of the Marx brothers, but this guy he talked like um he talked like Chico Marx. What are we gonna do? Uh we're gonna go We're gonna go up there, okay. Uh you know, Groucho said to him, that that hey, that that testimony is irrelevant. He's in a courtroom scene, and he says, um, no, it's not the relevant. Uh an a relevant is a big animal that lives in a circus, has a longer trunk. So anyway, this guy, I'm working with this guy, he had been in demolition, he had done dynamite. He's a real tiny guy like a jockey. I was a big, big guy, brand new apprentice, or you know, journeyman, you know, carpenter, a kind of apprentice carpenter for this company. And and the the boss put his um brother-in-law with me, and and the guy just cracked up. We had to do something that was very, very difficult. We were pulling a garage door spring down. I mean, I I could have bench pressed this guy, but he was strong, though he was small. He was small, but mighty. Though he be small, he was mighty. But anyway, he we're pulling down on this garage door spring. Have you ever pulled on a garage door spring to get it down to the bottom hook? Well, they're not meant to be pulled anyway. We're we're just getting to the atrophy, you know, like the ATP where our muscles are shaking and everything. And and and we're almost there. And he says, Whatever you do, don't uh laugh. Well, that did it for me. I mean, I couldn't oh God. He's I I just I you know when you laugh hard, you'd lose your strength, but we're we're almost there. And he says, Whatever you do, don't uh let the go. Otherwise are you gonna rip off of my baleins? Then that that killed me. So we had to kind of start over. Man, it was it was funny. So let's talk about something real quick, if we can. I'm gonna go through this thing. Um it's I'm gonna read it as fast as I can. Um it's it's called in Primus. If you subscribe to Hillsdale College, you'll get cool things like a bumper sticker that says pursue truth and I love the Constitution. Um but but I already knew this stuff. I don't this is what the awful and the low information thinkers they need to they need to realize this. So look that I already knew this stuff because I had read the Federalist papers. So I'm when I when I look at Hillsdale, I don't say, what are my orders today, Master? I will be assimilated. It's more like um It's more like uh I'm I'm glad that they're that they're saying this. I'm glad they're saying this stuff. So let's see if we can rip through this real quick. I'm gonna try and read it, summarize as quick as I can. It's about your birthright, my birthright, which is citizenship, which the Democrats are trying to give away. Our enemies. There are enemies domestic. They've always been against the Constitution. And they're talking about this 14th Amendment. I mean, what a joke. What a joke that you can come here on a vacation, have a baby, and that baby's an American citizen now. And it can be an anchor for you. What? That's insane. I mean, they designed laws against that. And right now we're trying to enforce them and they won't let us. They won't let us. Even SCOTUS has to scratch their head and scratch their ass and go, I don't know. And when you look up an AI, oh yes, yes, the Fourteenth Amendment gave everybody birthright citizen. No. Anyway, let me let me try and rip through this. This summer, Americans will celebrate the sescocentennial of the Declaration of Independence, our nation's 250th birthday. Also this summer, the U.S. Supreme Court will render a decision in the case of Trump versus Barbara, a class action lawsuit challenging pre President Trump's it's not his, it's it's America's, it's the Constitution's, challenging President Trump's executive order, ending the practice of birthright citizenship. There are two con the two are connected because Trump v. Barbara involves issues fundamental to the meaning of the Declaration and the future of the American experiment in Republican government. It is worth the time and effort for every citizen to understand its importance. The title of the article is Are We Subjects or Citizens? Are we subjects or citizens? Birthright citizenship and the Constitution. Birthright citizenship, the policy whereby the children of illegal aliens born within the geographic limits of the United States are entitled to American citizen, is a great magnet for illegal immigration. Many believe that this policy is an explicit command of the Constitution, consistent with the British common law system, but this is simply not true. The framers of the Constitution were, of course, well versed in the British common law, having learned its essential principles from William Blackstone's commentaries on the laws of England. That's what Jefferson and Lincoln studied. As such, they knew that the very concept of citizenship was unknown in British common law. Blackstone speaks only of birthright subjectship or birthright allegiance, never using the term citizen or citizenship. The idea of birthright subject subjectship, as Blackstone readily admits, is derived from feudal law. It is the relation of master and servant. All who are born within the protection of the king owes perpetual allegiance as a debt of gratitude. Think about that. You owe perpetual allegiance as a debt of gratitude. According to Blackstone, this debt is intrinsic and cannot be forfeited, canceled, or altered. Birthright subjectship under the common law is thus the doctrine of perpetual allegiance. Americans' founders rejected this doctrine. The Declaration of Independence, after all, solemnly proclaims that the good people of these colonies, this is a quote, are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved. According to Blackstone, the common law regards such an act as high treason. That's how we were born in treason, and now it's treason that's going to take us out. So the common law, the feudal doctrine of perpetual allegiance, could not possibly serve as the ground of American, i.e., Republican, citizenship. Indeed, the ideas are too preposterous to entertain. James Wilson, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a member of the Constitutional Convention as well as a Supreme Court Justice, captured the essence of the matter when he remarked, under the Constitution, the United States, there are citizens but no subjects. The transformation of subjects into citizens how early on was James Wilson? Uh at the founding signer of the Declaration of Independence? Under the Constitution of the United States, there are citizens but no subjects. The transformation of subjects into citizens was the work of the Declaration and the Constitution. Both are premised on the idea that citizenship is based on the consent of the governed, not the accident of birth. Who is a citizen? Citizenship, of course, does not exist. Excuse me a second. Citizenship, of course, does not exist by nature, it is created by law, and the identification of citizens has always been considered an essential aspect of c of sovereignty. After all, the founders of a new nation are not born citizens of the new nation they create. Indeed, this is true of all citizens of a new nation. They are not born into it, but rather become citizens by law. They become citizens by law. Although the Constitution of 1787 mentioned citizens, it did not define citizenship. It was not until eighteen sixty-eight, with the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, that the Republicans, this is me talking, the Republicans created in order to keep the Democrats from keeping their slaves on the plantation. Hello? It was for slavery. That's what the Fourteenth Amendment was. It was the Republicans trying to free the Democrats' slaves. They didn't want it. So they did this thing about birthright. Here's the familiar language. 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. It was to defeat the Democrat attempt, again, to do the Civil War a different way. Thus, there are two components to American citizenship, birth or naturalization in the U.S., and being subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. We have somehow come today to believe that anyone born within the geographical limits of the U.S. is all of a sudden, automatically subject to its jurisdiction. But this renders the jurisdiction clause utterly superfluous and without force. If this had been the intention of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment, they would simply have said that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. are thereby citizens. Furthermore, the principal supporters of the Fourteenth Amendment were explicit about the meaning of subject to the jurisdiction of. It meant owing exclusive allegiance to the U.S. and none to any other country. It is broadly agreed by constitutional scholars that the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to constitutionalize the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Again, Republicans trying to put a stake in the heart of the Democrats' slavery. Turns out they were unsuccessful. And now the Democrats are using it to get the plantation stoked, running with vigor. It's weird. It's Orwellian. It's a parallel universe. It's backward. It is broadly agreed by constitutional scholars that the purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to cons constitutionalize the Civil Rights Act of 1866, Republican, which was passed over the veto of then President Andrew Johnson, Democrat, who took over when Democrat popular actor John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln. That's the problem. He vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. They had to override it. With all of these new Democrats back in the uh back in the uh Congress. A supermajority of both chambers of Congress approved the act. Thank you, Republicans, which established the citizenship of newly freed slaves and the protection of their rights and liberties on the exact same basis as white citizens. See, they were born here. The Democrats were trying to say, oh no, but that but they're not citizens even though they were born here. That's why they had to talk about birthright. Many in Congress initially argued that the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in eighteen sixty-five thank you, Republicans. Another battle in the war against the Democrats hanging on to slavery, granted citizenship and rights and liberties attached to that status. Others argued that there should be explicit legislation, which resulted in the Civil Rights Act the following year. Still others thought the Civil Rights Act was insufficient because future majorities could repeal it. This concern became the impetus for the 14th Amendment, which constitutionalized the Civil Rights Act. How many times did Republicans have to try to get this into the law so that the Democrats wouldn't nullify it? That was a word Martin Luther King used a lot. Nullification. They just go, nah, nope. The Citizenship Clause was a late edition of the 14th Amendment. The first draft merely stated that citizens were persons born in the U.S. or naturalized by the laws thereof. You ever meet somebody who is naturalized? Some of them are great, a lot of them. That's why they talk about immigration being our strength. This language was referred to the Joint Committee on Reconstruction. It was putting the country back together after the Democrats tried to destroy it with slavery. It is evident that the Joint Committee placed importance on the jurisdiction clause, which meant at a minimum that not all persons born in the U.S. were automatically citizens. Michigan Senator Jacob Howard, who was the manager of the 14th Amendment for the Reconstruction Committee, said the addition of the jurisdiction clause was simply declaratory of what I regard as the law of the land already, referring to the Civil Rights Act of 1866. That's what I thought about the Civil Rights Act of like 1966. You got to keep passing laws that are already in place? They didn't have civil rights a hundred years ago, or the Democrats wouldn't let 'em have 'em. Why can't we address the issue? In agreeing that this the law of the land meant that subject to the jurisdiction connoted complete jurisdiction, in other words, not owing allegiance to anyone else. If you're going to be a dual citizen, uh you know, say Canada and here, England and here, you're going to have more loyalty to them or us. Us being U.S. Remember that. Every time I say us, it's United States. Under section five of the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress has the power to define by appropriate legislation who is subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S. Indeed, during debate over the amendment, Senator Howard, the author of the Citizenship Clause, attempted to assure skeptical colleagues that the new language was not intended to make citizens of the Indians. Remember them? Although the Indians were born within the United States geographical limits, Howard steadfastly maintained that they were not subject to the nation's jurisdiction because they owed allegiance to their tribes. I just saw Ben Bankus do a shtick on this up in Canada. They're saying we're not part of Canada. And then somebody says something to him and they go, Oh, you just violated the Canadian Code. He goes, I thought you weren't part of it. Persons born in the United States who are foreigners, aliens, or who belong to the families of ambassadors or foreign ministers. You don't have to be a member of the family of ambassadors or foreign ministers to get the point that that was trying to say just being born here don't get it. Thus, subject to the jurisdiction does not simply mean it is, as is commonly thought today, subject to American laws or American courts. It means owing exclusive political allegiance to the United States. Consider as well that in 1868, the year the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, Congress passed the Expatriation Act. This act permitted allegiance American citizens to renounce their allegiance and alienate or abandon their citizenship. Supported by Senator Howard and other leading architects of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Expatriation Act characterized the right of expatriation as a natural and inherent right of all people indispensable to the enjoyment of the rights, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Like the idea of citizenship, this right of expatriation is wholly incompatible with the British common law understanding of perpetual allegiance and subjectship. The old feudal doctrine stated by Blackstone and adopted as part of the common law of England is not only at war with the theory of our institutions, but is equally at war with every principle of justice and of sound public law. A feudal doctrine wholly at odds with Republican government. You know, I'm just gonna whip through this. You you can you can find this online if you go to Hillsdale. Yeah. I need to put the link in there or whatever, but let's just kind of get through some of these here. Um there was this there was this thing called the the the Wong Kim Ark case. Contrary to claims made by defenders of birthright citizenship, there is no Supreme Court decision squarely holding that children of illegal aliens are automatically citizens of the United States. In an 1898 decision, U.S. versus Wong Kim Ark, the court did not did hold by a vote of six to two that a child of legal resident aliens is entitled to birthright citizenship. The child of legal resident aliens is entitled to birthright citizenship. Even then, because they're naturalized. Well even then, the Wong Kim Arc decision was based on the mistaken premise that the Fourteenth Amendment adopted the British common law of subjectship. The majority opinion did not explain how subjects were miraculously transformed into citizens within the supposedly adopted common law. Supreme Court Justice Horace Gray, writing the majority decision, merely stipulated that citizen and subject were convertible terminal terms, as if there was no difference between feudal monarchy and republicanism. Indeed, Chief Justice Melville Fuller wrote a powerful dissent arguing that the idea of birthright citizenship had been repealed by the American Revolution and the principles of the Declaration of Independence. Hello? You see, the SCOTUS is not only hit and miss, but they've lost the game in the in the bottom of the ninth and in the in the first inning too many times. Repeal of the current policy of birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens would not require a constitutional amendment. We have seen the framers of the 14th Amendment agreed that Indians were not subject to jurisdiction of the United States. Finally, in 1923, there was a universal offer to all tribes. Any Indian who consented could become an American citizen. They have to consent. The citizenship was based on reciprocal consent, an offer on the part of the U.S. and acceptance on the part of the individual, the individual. Thus, Congress used its legislative powers in the 14th Amendment to determine who was within the jurisdiction of the U.S. I'm going to just summarize some of the key points here. We recall that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment specified that those who are naturalized citizens owe exclusive allegiance to the U.S. to be included within its jurisdiction. And the citizenship oath taken by new citizens today still requires a pledge of allegiance. A pledge of such allegiance. But in practice, dual citizenship and dual allegiance is allowed. This is a sign of the decline of American citizenship and of America as a nation state. Victor Davis Hansen's book, what is it called? One of his more recent books, The Dying Citizen. Dennis Prager says the bigger the government, the smaller the citizen. This is it. It's a battle between tyranny and republican liberty. Elite liberal opinion for many years considered the sovereign nation-state as a historical anachronism in an increasingly globalized world. We're citizens of the world. Don't give me citizenship of the U.S. crap. We are assured that human dignity adheres to the individual and does not require the mediation of the nation-state. Borders, language, culture is what makes up a country. Tear them all away, and what do you got? You got a country? No. In this new universe of international norms, demands on the part of the nation-state to exclusive allegiance or for assimilation, oh no, not that, they violate universal personhood. In such a universe, citizenship will become superfluous or even dangerous. Okay, be a citizen of the world, but not a citizen of here. We must constantly remind ourselves, however, that the historical fact that constitutional democracy has existed only in the nation-state, and that the demise of the nation-state, isn't that they always crying about democracy? Well, most certainly mean the demise of the constitutional democracy. So you don't a child can see this, but politicians and SCOTUS members who devoted their whole life to it can't. Thank you.