So Erin recently got the "temporary" addendum removed from her permanent resident status and I started looking into when she can become naturalized. US Immigration has a handy PDF named "A Guide to Naturalization" that lists the benefits and responsibilities of being a US citizen. I found the following line of interest:
Emphasis mine. It's unfortunate that this is only a "responsibility" and not a law. Although I suppose if it were a law a decent-sized chunk of the American population would have to be stripped of their citizenship and deported. ;-p Come to think of it, at the very least it'd be a pretty good additional punishment for those convicted of hate crimes. Serve your time then get your citizenship revoked and your ass shipped out of the country. I'd vote yes to that.
And just in case you're too lazy to flip through the PDF, there's really not that many responsibilities for US citizens:
- Give up all prior allegiance to any other nation or sovereignty.
- Swear allegiance to the United States.
- Support and defend the Constitution and the laws of the United States.
- Serve the country when required.
- Participate in the political process by registering and voting in elections.
- Serving on a jury.
- Tolerance for differences.