How soon they forget.
For the price of a gold card you, too, can be an American citizen. And, like many a billionaire and other notorious creatures, for just a little more, you can be a Dual Citizen of the United States and Israel.
Somebody forgot to tell South Carolina’s United States Senator Tim Scott, who is not on the ballot November 3. He believes that people - with wealth - cannot buy United States citizenship. He is naive.
Instead, his first action upon returning to Congress, after an extended break so the U.S. House would not vote on the impeachment of the Secretary of Defense, was to “crack-down” on women who travel, pregnant, to the United States so they can give birth here, and have their children automatically (and constitutionally) become American citizens.
It is a way to attack Birthright Citizenship, that skirts the Constitution and, perhaps, can survive the United State Supreme Court.
Giving a statement to something called the Daily Signal, Scott said, “American citizenship is not for sale, and foreign nationals have no right to buy citizenship for their children.”
Dude, Marco from South Africa can walk into the United States Treasury today with the right amount of money and buy United States citizenship.
The only difference is, the Trump Administration sells it for Cash - while desperate women seeking to escape the murderous regimes of other nations (not this one) “buy it” through a travel agency and a hospital. Clearly, Treasury just wants to cut out the middle man and get the direct cash payments (or check or money order or crypto-currency).
Senator Scott wraps his anti-birthright message in that tired, old “greatest country”
thing. “The birth tourism industry has disrespected what it means to be an American by selling and profiting from the freedoms and values that men and women across our country died for. We are blessed to live in the greatest nation on God’s green Earth, and my bill makes it clear that our temporary travel programs cannot be exploited for the purpose of obtaining American citizenship.”
In other words, if I may Senator, we have Ours in America, now we are pulling the ladder up behind us. This comes conveniently after Melania had Barron, of course.
Senator Scott’s other proposal to make life so much better for Americans is to give the multi-billionaires of the film industry a 30% tax credit for staying in the United States. He has A LOT of support for this, among lawmakers who represent states that think they are God’s gift to the film industry (mostly because of, as yet, unspoiled land - Data Centers will be taking care of that, real soon).
And, no, you are not eligible for the tax credit if you are making porn.
Even if some of today’s “R-rated” movies come pretty darn close.
California will be the greatest beneficiary of Senator Scott’s proposal. Oh, yes, and Opportunity Zones - you get an extra credit if you make your movie in these zones, a device that Scott created to get areas of poverty a leveled playing field in the nation’s economy.
A big part of Clinton is up for designation in the next round of federal Opportunity Zones - we already are such a zone on Charlottes Road and, if the Treasury agrees, we could become an even bigger Opportunity Zone.
Look for film crews soon at the to-be-constructed travel baseball complex on the the land of the former Whitten Center, east of Clinton. It, and a portion of Uptown Clinton, are in the running to be an Opportunity Zone.
And, once that happens, our power bills and gasoline prices are going to be cut in half.
Vic MacDonald, regional editor for Clinton, Walterboro and Manning, is a 50-year community journalism veteran in South Carolina, who lives in Laurens. Reach him at: 864-833-1900. His candidate endorsements are his, and his alone. If you want to submit a candidate endorsement for publication, remember the deadline is Noon, Oct. 19 (no political letters for The Chronicle after the Oct. 21 issue, the Oct. 28 issue will be an election Nov. 3 preview).
