This morning, I thought I would listen to the new Saturday guys on The Blaze. I turned on the self proclaimed Latino Conservative Chris Salcedo.
He was heading in several directions as I don’t know if the show even has callers. He wandered into the somewhat popular topic of calling a Constitutional Convention to take the government back. So far so good.
He then wandered into the principle that the Founders wrote into the Constitution that the United States would not have titles of nobility and all Americans are legal equals under the law. Still OK…
But then it was stated as a fact that Americans are even prohibited from accepting titles of nobility from other countries. Bzzzt.
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 8
No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince or foreign State.
(emolument is a salary or fee – aka bribe)
The prohibition only applies to pople holding public office – and does have the escape clause that Congress can vote to override the Constitution.
Interestingly, Alan Greenspan has been knighted. The Federal Reserve is not part of the US Government, after all.
Was the “Title”, “Nobel Peace Prize” from a foreign state? 🙂
Presidents do accept an occasional “present” from said organizations, but the “present” is accepted on behalf of the US government and remains property of the US government.