A reality based independent journal of observation & analysis, serving the Flathead Valley & Montana since 2006. © James Conner.
In every state in which I’ve lived, there are people who believe that being born in that state should enjoy a special status, a birthright, not available to Americans born in another state. Occasionally, someone tries to get that written into law — for example, Greg Hinkle’s attempt to establish a hereditary hunting aristocracy in Montana — but usually it takes the form of a brag — for example, “I’m a seventh generation New Yorker” — and is enforced by social sanctions. For some, this is a very serious business.
In fact, it’s serious enough to Montana’s Democrats that they included in their 2014 platform (PDF) a plank (page 30) aimed at what they consider an illegitimate attempt by Sen. Steve Daines to claim he’s a fifth generation Montanan:
That’s as petty and petulant a party platform plank as I’ve ever read.
Why does this matter so much to Montana’s Democrats that they put this plank in their party’s platform? Why does it matter at all whether someone was born in Montana?
Background information. Here’s the Wikipedia’s description of the dispute:
Daines was born in Van Nuys, California,[2] the son of Sharon R. (Erickson) and Clair W. Daines.[3] He moved to Montana with his parents when he was two years old.[4] He was raised in Bozeman, Montana where he attended school from kindergarten through college.[5] Although born in California, he asserts that he is a fifth-generation Montanan, based on having a direct family line of people who have lived in Montana since his great-great-grandmother Karine Dyrud immigrated from Norway to Minnesota in 1869, and later moved to Montana. His parents both grew up in Billings, Montana, and returned to Montana to start their own home-construction business.[6]
Daines’ can invoke the Naturalization Act of 1790 in support of his claim that he’s a fifth generation Montanan:
And the children of citizens of the United States that may be born beyond Sea, or out of the limits of the United States, shall be considered as natural born Citizens:
That’s not the same as claiming he was born in Montana, which clearly he was not, and does not so assert. Still, he would have been smarter to have said his family had lived in Montana for generations, and not left himself open to being whacked by a “he’s not a fifth generation Montanan” plank.
It occurs to me that the mindset that generated the Democrats’ Daines plank probably is behind the current Democratic lie that Greg Gianforte is a “New Jersey billionaire.” Gianforte was born in California, but we associate California with sun and surf, and New Jersey with the mob and corruption, so it’s more fun for birthright Democrats to pretend that Gianforte’s from the Garden State.
This entire business reminds me of arguments over breeding dogs and horses.