The Inaugural Post

Hello All,

I have started blogs before, but none quite so important to me as this one. I am attempting the impossible. I intend to be part of something that could either fail miserably or go further than I ever expected, and I need your support. But I am getting ahead of myself since I haven't really told you what this blog is truly about.

I can almost guarantee that each of you have made lists and lists of what you wanted to be when you grew up. Heaven knows I did. I could list hundreds of jobs that I had in mind for myself. Veterinarian, police officer, bus driver, nanny (my friends would die if they knew that one), fighter pilot, author, interior designer, marine biologist, lawyer, senator, photographer, etc. Like I said, the list goes on and on. 


As children we are encouraged to have an open mind. To explore the infinite possibilities that are within our reach. We just have to put our minds to our ultimate goals and sooner or later they will come into fruition. This is what we are taught. The American dream. It sounds so romantic, and it is. I am proud to be a part of a country that allows us to work towards the impossible to make it possible. And yet, as I learned more about American history, I quickly found that there are some things that are unobtainable for certain people to work towards.

I can honestly say now, that I have no dreams of running for president any longer. I did, and this is where my idea sprouted from. I cannot imagine being responsible for a whole country and having EVERY SINGLE choice I make criticized by EVERYONE. It must be exhausting and I admire each brave soul who has endured that path. Yet, as a little girl the occupation of "President of the United States" was on one of those lists I had made up for myself. But I was to be sorely disappointed because I was about to learn that I could never apply for that job.

You see, I was adopted. I was born in another country. A country that is a 14 hour plane ride from the United States. I was born in Chile. A place that I sadly know little about. I was adopted by my American parents and taken to the U.S. when I was 5 weeks old. I spent the first 5 weeks of my life in a country I don't remember, and have spent the other years being raised in the American culture. I have only been back once, when I was three, to adopt my younger brother and all I remember about that trip was going to the zoo. That is my only true memory of a country that I only share ethnic roots with. Someday I would like to go back and learn more about my birthplace, but that is not the point of this blog.

I have been raised in the United States almost my entire life, as a true U.S. citizen. I have been given the same opportunities my native born U.S. citizen friends have been given, and have come to expect that. However, I discovered that was not true in all aspects of the law. I would never be able to run for President. I was denied that right due to article in the Constitution.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5 of the Constitution states:

A President must:
- be a natural born citizen of the United States
- be at least thirty-five years old
- have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least fourteen years 

Though it might not be the something everyone in my situation is concerned with, what I am proposing is to update the first bullet this Article is outlining for adopted child who wish to be the President of the United States. 

Lets be honest with ourselves. This law was created during a time when adopting foreign children was not prevalent in the United States. The country has come a long way since the Constitution was written, and it is about time for an change! We are a melting pot. We come from many countries, have multiple ethnicities and backgrounds, different colored skin, and much more. We are a more diverse country than we were 50, 60, 100 years ago. This is how we can show our progress. We have already shown it in electing President Obama. Let us continue that trend.

So here is the first step of my plan:

I plan on writing to my local government officials, local adoption agencies, and other organizations that might be willing to help me.

After that...well my plans aren't 100% clear yet, but this is the start of something new and I am in completely unfamiliar territory. I just need to know that there is support out there. That I am not alone. That I have a good idea. So please help me. Give me pointers of what I should be doing to make this go forward instead of shriveling up into nothing. 


Thank you for getting through this long post and I appreciate your support more than you know.

PTeresa.

p.s. I do have a idea of how I want to update this article (the rough wording of it can be found under the title of this blog), but that is to come in the next posting! More to come! 

Let this be the start of something new