Readers Write: Venezuela, inflation, birthright citizenship

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Thanks to President Donald Trump, the U.S. has now become just another “rogue nation” (“U.S. seizes oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast, Trump says,” Dec. 11).

Seizing non-American commercial vessels on the high seas is act of international piracy. [Opinion editor’s note: Venezuela alleges the seizure was piracy; Attorney General Pam Bondi said the vessel was involved in “an illicit oil shipping network.”]

What is the difference between what Trump has ordered and the actions of the Somali pirates who attack oil tankers off the Horn of Africa?

Are there no limitations to Trump’s lawlessness?

D. Kingsley Hahn, St. Paul

The U.S. military has seized an oil tanker from Venezuela, an act of war that our elected representatives must publicly and in all forms oppose. U.S. citizens do not want another war for oil. We already did that in Iraq, and it is the major reason we waste billions on bases in the Middle East supporting dictatorships there like the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few.

Even Trump supporters do not want a war — or at least those who are truly “America First” like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who takes no money from AIPAC or other foreign interests.

The extrajudicial killings of the men on speedboats is clearly illegal, and so is the “seizing” or outright theft of an oil tanker from a sovereign nation. When the Houthis did it, it was to oppose genocide, but Trump is doing it out of pure greed and to trigger a war no one in their right mind should want.

We cannot allow Trump to pave the way for another illegal war for oil based on lies. The Venezuelan people will not allow that; they are ready and willing to defend their homeland, as they should.

Kristina M. Gronquist, Minneapolis

I researched the price of that card today after 35 years of inflation and overall fiscal and monetary mismanagement in Venezuela. That card today, in those same Venezuelan bolívares, would cost one quadrillion bolívares— that’s 1 followed by 15 zeros. That number is practically incomprehensible, but to put it another way, to buy it today, paying with the old 10 bolívar bank notes, it would take 6 million 20-ton truckloads to pay for one card; or a line of 54-foot semi tractor-trailers over 60,000 miles long.

That is why excessive government spending and inflation matter, not just in Venezuela, but everywhere, including the United States. Politicians (of both parties) always long for low interest rates regardless of the longer-term impact on prices. Likewise, the same politicians (of both parties) always push for more spending, just on different things, without regard to inflation or budget deficits.

Let’s learn from other countries’ mistakes, manage U.S. fiscal and monetary affairs in a prudent manner and not let inflation get out of hand.

Will McMullen, Franklin Township, Minn.

Regardless of your stance on immigration, you must view it as an emergency when people who claim to be federal police, without even showing their badges, detain and kidnap U.S. citizens and noncitizens here legally. This is a direct attack on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Where is Gov. Tim Walz? Why is he doing nothing about this? He could call the National Guard, not to interfere with arrests with warrants, but to act as observers to ensure that ICE follows the law and its own protocols and to ensure that those claiming to be federal agents aren’t actually freelance human traffickers.

Instead, he’s just sending tweets.

Matthew Byrnes, Hopkins

A recent letter on birthright citizenship misses the mark on several points (“Trump is right on birthright citizenship,” Readers Write, Dec. 10). When the 14th Amendment was adopted, there were no restrictions on immigration to the United States; the first came only with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. The country was hungry for immigrants, not afraid of them, as apparently we are today. The concept of “illegal alien” did not exist. If the framers of the amendment had wanted to extend birthright citizenship only to former slaves, as some suggest, they could have said so, but they did not.

The phrase “complete municipal jurisdiction” that the writer relies on appears nowhere in the Constitution and is certainly a curious one: The United States is not a municipality.

None of us natural-born citizens is ever required to promise allegiance in return for citizenship. In fact we can be as disloyal as we please, and our citizenship can’t be taken away. There is nothing reciprocal about citizenship and allegiance except for those who are naturalized.

For those who oppose birthright citizenship, there is a clear and democratic path to getting rid of it: Amend the Constitution. Doing so would require forging a national consensus, something far superior to the executive fiat the President Donald Trump has attempted.

Since the passage of the 14th Amendment, it has always been understood to promise birthright citizenship, precisely as its language states. That said, it will not be surprising if the six MAGA foot soldiers who control our Supreme Court concoct a brand-new and contrary interpretation.

Paul Nelson, St. Paul

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Thomas Q. Sibley, St. Joseph, Minn.

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I submit that the writer of “Trump is right on birthright citizenship” is incorrect. The 14th Amendment’s operative phrase “and subject to the jurisdiction thereof” was not intended to emasculate the wording that sets forth that being born on U.S. soil confers automatic citizenship. The qualification as to jurisdiction is a legal term to prevent an unintentional conferring of jurisdiction. If the 14th Amendment had been intended for legislation to limit citizenship, then why make the grant automatic? An amendment amends, adds or deletes words, phrases or entire provisions of the Constitution. This is a difficult process. The jurisdiction exception was not intended to amend the Constitution but to recognize a recognized legal exception then existing.