Once and for all we know that yes, president Obama was born in the United States of America, in a Hawaii hospital; we now know that Donald Trump was wrong in his speculations that if Obama had a birth certificate it shows something he does not want the American people to see. Trump’s best guess that it might confirm the president’s family was Muslim. And while Trump has moved on to questioning how our current president managed to get into Harvard, making himself look even more like a joke than a serious candidate, there is still birther fallout. Side show and carnival barkers or not, Trump wasn’t wrong asking to see a birth certificate on such an important figure, when discussing if the leader of the free world meets the most basic requirement to hold the position, in the face of nearly half of the country, 46 percent, along with an almost equal number of the republican party, either don’t know if he was born in the US or honestly think he wasn’t. When simply showing his birth certificate would not have caused this to snowball into headlines about him being everything from the anti-Christ to an imbedded Muslim terrorist, to possible Arab and Muslim sympathizer. Putting aside whether this was a smear campaign to thwart then senator Obama’s run for the Whitehouse, continued to weaken his presidency; the issue should have long since been laid to rest.
Whatever your stance on the so called birther issue, Mr. Trump’s insistence to see the actual full length birth certificate of our commander and chief has brought to light other important things that need to be addressed; if it had not been for the loud tenacious nature of Donald Trump, no one would know there is a difference between a certificate of live birth and a typical birth certificate or that at least one state in this country uses something other than the standard birth certificate. Which brings us to the solving of this made up mystery, president Obama had to write to the local Hawaii health department, department of public record, wherever birth records, certificates are held and make a special request for his long form birth certificate. Something that no one should have to do; anyone should be able to submit a written request, enclose a check for any fee involved, provide a form of identification, that you are who you say you are, a parent, legal guardian of a minor, conservator of an estate and receive a copy of yours, or stated person’s birth certificate via the mail for out of state, town cases. Should you live in the city and state you were born in, you should be able to go down to where such records are held, present photo I.D., pay the required fee and walk out with as many copies as you paid for, a universal occurrence no matter what state or U.S. held territory you reside in.
On the flipside, both birth certificates and certificates of death should be much more accessible, digitized and database housed with, in the case of the latter, an alert sent to crucial government agencies such as social security and the IRS cracking down on fraud, people trying to cash their deceased relative’s social security checks, stimulus checks sent to people no longer living, insurance payouts equipment and other services billed to people, sometimes dead for years. Additionally, how is the president’s birth certificate even an issue to begin with as it should be a matter of public record, and why aren’t birth certificates in Hawaii, across the nation treated as such, or did Mr. Trump, all the other naysayers just not look hard enough? Assuming they are not part of public record, they should be attainable though a background check or other research done by individuals like private investigators or investigative firms searching for people’s long lost family members, birth parents, tracing family histories, genealogies. Contrary to what some observes and political analysts believe this, at least in the case of Mr. Trump, has never been about racism, about holding down persons of a certain nationality, descended from a particular place, culture, ethnicity; it has been about transparency, it has been about affirming the person sitting in that chair has the legal right to be there, has not committed a fraud, cover up, swindling of the American people to get in that chair. Now we know he didn’t in as much as his citizenship is concerned, that if he swindled people he did it with old fashion charm. However, in no way should it have been so hard to ascertain the truth; in no way should those looking for the truth been blockaded by Obama himself or state law, congressional legal loopholes or any other possibilities thrown around.
Further, no one is trying to trample states rights here but there needs to be a uniformity of documents; just like all Medicare cards are white paper cards with red and blue stripe, just as all social security cards are the unique design of 2 shades of blue, driver’s licenses all look recognizably similar, credit cards from all major companies have easily known identifiable logos, all states, US held territories should be required to have both a long and short form birth certificate, called a birth certificate, no variation so there is no confusion. Long and short forms of said document should contain identical information whether you were born in Alaska, Hawaii or one of the other 48 states. It’s no different than our currency being the same throughout the country, recognizing marriages whether they were performed in Mane or Florida; the controversy surrounding same sex marriages stems from it being seen as redefining the institution not a situation of marriages are only legal in the state they are issued from. We publicly post of legal notices, possess a basic legal code spelling out rights and procedures, uniform basic laws; the latter with little variation. For example murder is not permissible in one state and banned in another; Miranda rights apply regardless of city, county or state you are arrested in; the amount of time you can be detained without charge varies only slightly by 12 to 24 hours, if at all. Why because it’s the only way we can collectively function.
We did this to ourselves by not demanding that uniformity, because outside of eliminating hassle for people who move out of the state they, their children were born in, people who move around a lot for their jobs, are victims of fires, natural disasters, circumstances where important documents can get lost, with that uniformity Donald Trump would not have been able to secure doubt in people’s mind about the president’s citizenship, substantiate his claim that a certificate of live birth is not the same as a birth certificate due to their being no difference in the title of the form. There would have been no argument in his Good Morning America interview with George Stephanopoulos saying but it, a certificate of live birth, is the form Hawaii uses as a birth certificate, to denote registered birth of a human being. Had there been uniformity of law regarding public record, anyone could go online find a free birth certificate finder, registry or pay a nominal fee to see president Obama’s birth certificate, Americans would be able to find and see it for themselves, as opposed to relying on grainy copies posted on campaign or presidential websites. This needs to be the catalyst that brings about change regarding the confusing minutia of America’s jumbled paperwork nightmare, the holes, discrepancies, variations in laws by county, city, state, municipality leading to extraordinary controversy, doubt and debate.
In America we need to get our collective act together put some common sense into the common threads of our ballooning bureaucracy and growing paper avalanches; if it’s public record in one state it must be in every state or territory. All documents of public record must contain identical pieces of information regardless of the state in which it was manufactured; i.e. a death certificate in Virginia yields the same facts as one in California public details of a divorce on the East coast are the same details you find on the West coast independent of not just state variations but city, county and municipality nuances as well. All common documents, not just birth certificates, found throughout the United States and its territories should carry the same name death certificate, driver’s license, divorce decree. Whatever the title or common name of the paperwork there should be no change due to crossing state, county or city lines. When obtaining copies of yours, your children’s documents, someone for whom you have power of attorney exc., you should have to present the same measure of proof, go through the same procedure in every corner of the country be that photo I.D., written request. As opposed to in one place we do this, one place we do that; in one place you need 2 photo I.D.’s others you only need one, often under the guise of calling it an extra measure of security, safety. Concrete procedures should be in place for obtaining birth certificates for newborns born at home, in alternative birthing centers or anywhere outside a hospital. Funny most of us thought that’s the America we had; how sad it’s not true.
Unfortunately by not releasing his birth certificate before now, treating speculations as a joke until recently, president Obama opens the door to those who would want to continue forcing the issue, hardliners and conspiracy theorists who could say his birth certificate is falsified, fake, doctored or redacted to eliminate shameful, embarrassing or incendiary information. By not quelling rumor early, it makes it far easier for people to feel they need to delve further into his life to be sure there is nothing shady, to be sure the leader of the free world is not deceiving the citizens of it. As this should serve as a wake up call to the people of America, the bureaucracy of America to get it’s house in order, it should also serve as a cautionary tale to future politicians and individuals wanting to hold office, any office that concepts of citizenship, religion and values are not trivialities to be underestimated.