There was always something strange about that woman to me.
by Tim Mak
Now that she’s a Swiss citizen, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) can vote and run for office in the country, but won’t be subject to its health insurance mandate.
POLITICO reported Tuesday that the Republican congresswoman became a Swiss citizen on March 19 due to her husband’s heritage. Her three youngest children also automatically received Swiss citizenship. (A Bachmann spokesperson said in an email that “some of their children wanted to exercise their eligibility for dual-citizenship so they went through the process as a family.”)
So what rights does Swiss citizenship confer?
It includes the option — some might say responsibility — to engage in the country’s participatory democracy. Each year, the country votes in four referendums relating to constitutional reform or grassroots-sponsored ballot questions; 100,000 votes are needed to trigger a referendum vote.
For example, had Bachmann been a Swiss citizen in 2005, she would have been eligible to vote in the landmark referendum legalizing absinthe, an alcoholic beverage with Swiss roots that had been constitutionally banned since October 1910.
Bachmann could vote via absentee ballot or the country’s online voting system. The country has about 5 million registered voters, according to ElectionGuide, with voter turnout ranging from 30 to 55 percent for each referendum.
However, Bachmann will not be forced to adhere to Switzerland’s health insurance mandate, which, in reference to President Barack Obama’s health care law, she has denounced as unconstitutional.
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Bachmann and her family are also allowed to work — no green cards or permits necessary — in Switzerland, where the unemployment rate is around 3 percent. America’s unemployment rate was 8.1 percent in April.
Finally, Bachmann is eligible to run for office in Switzerland, should she decide to move there and meet residency requirements — a prospect she jokingly addressed Tuesday in an interview with Swiss TV.
“As you can see, there is a lot of competition behind me that I would have to run against, and it would be very stiff, because they’re very good,” said Bachmann, referring to a group of visiting Swiss parliamentarians standing behind her.
Bachmann’s children will not be subject to Swiss conscription law, as her three youngest children are all female. Her two sons, being older, are not yet Swiss citizens, but are eligible for a fast-track citizenship process.
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Tags: Michele Bachmann, Tim Mak
Her husband is Swiss. She cannot run for POTUS and owe allegiance to a country other than the United States.
She is a flake.
Someone wrote, “I wonder which one of the three official and one unofficial languages she will learn to speak”.
they can have her.
coldwarrior wrote:
That Stepford Wives look did not appeal to me.
@ coldwarrior:
Yup, she should go there and stay there.
@ Speranza:
She did damage.
@ Rodan:
She appointed herself head of the Tea Party. I am not aware that there was an election.
coldwarrior wrote:
we’ll gladly keep her. It’s your loss.
I can think of a lot of things to slam Bachmann for, but being a dual citizen of the oldest democracy in the world, one of the few nations outside the US where citizens have the right to keep an bear arms, where the citizens are actively attempting to reduce Islamic influence in their country, is not one of them.
I’m going to keep this polite. You’ve done better posts.
The Osprey wrote:
Well you haven’t and what if she became a citizen of Mexico -- you would sing a different tune. Epic fail.
Also it is a headline not a commentary.
If it was John Kerry who became a dual citizen of France you’d be getting your knickers in a knot, and France is a democracy.
Would I become a dual citizen? Only if I was really disturbed by what was going on in the US. And sometimes it does help to have a separate passport. IF I was a politician I would never do it.
I think dual citizenship is problematic in the US and opens us up to a lot of bad opportunities. I would prefer if people either decide to be a US citizen or be something else.
If the UN made a world citizen passport. I might apply for one. lol
What about Jews? We of Jewish descent (especially my subset, of Turkish Palestine / Mandate ancestry and with Israeli cousins) have the “ace in the hole”: we don’t start with Israeli citizenship, but we can get it in pretty short order.
Would we have to swear an oath that we would never make aliya? that we renounce the Right of Return?
I think that, if we were to run for public office in the US, that we should. We would have to demonstrate that Judaism is our religion but America is our country.
/I know, I know, I’m not “natural born” personally, and a grandson of a Jewish apostate besides; this question is on behalf of the actual Jews who read here, and really just that subset who want to get into government.
From that standpoint, I say that Bachmann should resign from the US Congress and from US politics in general. She should restrict herself to writing books, or blogs, or blog-comments.
Like I do. (And like Pamela Geller does.)
Well I didn’t think anything was weird about this until Michele Bachmann renounces Swiss citizenship
Speranza wrote:
You mean to tell me John Francois Kerrie isn’t French?
More ‘Bachmann derangement syndrome’ from Speranza. You really should see a doctor about that problem dude.
tunnelrat wrote:
Go soak your head.
The only one deranged is the the Stepford Wife herself. I know you think she is the greatest woman since Joan of Arc and Marie Curie but I hate to tell you this but she ain’t. While we’re at it -- get off my thread!
No, Michelle Bachmann is not a perfect person or candidate, but she deserves better than the juvenile hatred which you continually heap on her. I once observed that she is flawed, but that there is nothing phony about her and you could not even concede that point. Show me where she is in any way hypocritical- she is not. Like her or not, she does have integrity. You have pigeon-holed many conservative women into the category of ‘crazy’ based on personal reasons rather than facts. The whole premise of this post reads like something from LGF, as is your reply to me (get off my thread). I can get my fill of left wing talking points most anywhere on the blogosphere, why do you insist on posting them here?
@ tunnelrat:
Oh cry me a river I can criticize her any freaking time I want to just like I can criticize Mitt Romney, Barack Obama any time also. It’s called political free speech. She’s not a serious candidate and her sex is irrelevant and frankly I found her to be embarrassing when she spouted things that are not factual “Gardasil causes mental retardation”, “The Shot herd round the world was fired in Concord New Hampshire”. Call me weird but someone who applies for foreign citizenship after running for the GOP POTUS nomination -- well that is news. I would not like it if it were John Kerrry, Gary Hart, John Edwards, Chris Dodd, Al Gore, Hillary Clinton or any other Democrat who ran for the POTUS nomination so I don’t give Republicans a pass either -- its called being consistent. Don’t play that “you are a misogynist” game with me either which is complete bullshit.
And on that note this thread is finished.