If a new ad campaign has any influence, Arnold Schwarzenegger will be the next president of the United States – despite being born in Austria.

“You cannot choose the land of your birth. You can choose the land that you love,” the television ad states. It continues: “Help us amend the Constitution. Help us amend for Arnold.”

The campaign is spurred by Schwarzenegger’s statements that he would consider running for president if the Constitution allowed. The Constitution prohibits foreign-born individuals from running for the White House.

While good potential candidates shouldn’t be excluded from running, the U.S. Constitution shouldn’t be amended on account of the Terminator. However, there is no reason foreign-born citizens should be barred from the Oval Office.

Just because a person is born in the United States, it doesn’t make him or her more qualified to run the country. The United States may already have a number of qualified candidates, but it doesn’t mean that individuals from other countries are not equally qualified – if not more.

The place of a person’s birth should not be a critical factor in determining eligibility. It’s not where they were born that will determine how they will run the country; it is what they have done in other leadership roles – political and otherwise – that should be the deciding factor.

But there needs to be some lines drawn if the Constitution is to be amended – people shouldn’t be allowed to move here one year and run for president the next.

There should be some restrictions. Potential candidates should be required to meet time-frame requirements for both residency and citizenship. Schwarzenegger would be a potential candidate, as he has been in the country since 1968 and has been a U.S. citizen since 1983.

America has always been hailed as “the land of opportunity.” Shouldn’t all of the people that live here have equal opportunity to run for president regardless of where they were born?