Arizona House: common sense not in the house

PHOENIX -- The Arizona House approved a bill Wednesday that would require presidential candidates to show his or her birth certificate in order to be on the state's ballot.

The House approved the measure on a 31-29 vote after four Republicans joined all of the Democrats in opposing it. The measure still faces a Senate vote.

It would require U.S. presidential candidates who want to appear on the Arizona ballot to submit documents proving they meet the constitutional requirements to be president.

So-called "birthers" have contended since the 2008 presidential campaign that President Obama was born abroad, even after his official Hawaii birth certificate was made public along with birth notices that two Honolulu newspapers published in August 1961.

The Constitution says a person must be a "natural-born citizen" to be eligible for the presidency. Skeptics suggest Obama's Hawaiian birth certificate is fake and say he was actually born in Kenya, his father's homeland.

Where to begin?  I used to live in Arizona.  It is, indeed, conservative - read Republican.  If you'd ever lived in Arizona, particularly before air conditioning, you'd understand why this is so - harsh environments breed a very wide and deep vein of self reliance, independence, and a disposition to dealing with things as they are.  While I unequivocally believe these are positive traits, this bit of silliness has noting do do with much of anything other than pandering to the radical right, dare I say lunatic, fringe. 

That Mr. Obama is in fact a US citizen qualified under the constitution to be president is indisputable short of believing in things that are, well, unbelievable.  Why then this silliness from the Arizona legislature?  Do they believe otherwise?  That seems rather unlikely given the facts.  Are they afraid of the lunatic fringe?  Perhaps.  Are they concerned about the Tea Party?  Certainly.  Is this good law?  No!  Is it yet another example of appallingly bad politics?  Certainly! 

Common sense suggests that this kind of behavior by elected officials does not advance reasoned effective governance.  Common sense suggests that politicians that engage in this sort of behavior have no business in government and ought to be removed at the next available election, even in Arizona, particularly given it's historic disposition to reality.