"Mr Trump is getting things done,"

T...said to me a moment ago, "Why can't our Prime Minister be more like that?"

I tried to explain. "Our Prime Minister does not have those sort of executive powers. Our system of government is different."

"Yes, but we are both supposed to be democracies."

"And democracies are not all the same."

This was uphill work...and T...is an adult. Try explaining all this to a child.

Yes, the President of the United States of America has "hit the ground running" as they say. He has already done some of the things he had threatened to do when campaigning.  He is being admired by those who agree with his policies and loathed by those who do not. 

I see he has also been halted, at least for now, over the issue of citizenship by birth. It is an interesting idea - that one should be a natural citizen of the country in which you are born...and that, in some instances, you are not. Most countries do not allow a child born of diplomats to become a citizen at birth. There are also countries like Japan where one parent must be a citizen or the UAE where the father must be a citizen in addition to the child being born there. Even then there can be difficulties.

The situation is not the same now but I once knew a student couple from the United States who deliberately made sure their child was born in London in the seventies so that their child could be a British citizen. (And yes, he left the United States as an adult and has resided in the UK since then.) That situation changed in around 1981 or 1982.  

But what does it all really mean? How can someone be a "citizen" of two countries - with voting rights in both? You cannot be a member of our federal parliament if you have "dual nationality". It suggests divided loyalties.

Tomorrow will officially be our national day again. There will be people who "become citizens" on that day and they will come from a wide variety of backgrounds. There will be "protests" from people who say it is "Invasion Day".  There will be people who fly flags and go to events that are intended to instil in them or simply express pride in their citizenship of this country.

Our Prime Minister can encourage, indeed exhort, people to be involved in all this but he cannot independently confer the right of citizenship on people without consultation. He cannot independently take it away either. 

I will almost certainly be considered a little strange when I say that I have no strong feelings about being a citizen of this country.  I have no desire to fly a flag or sing the national anthem or go to an event where people get misty eyed about "citizenship".  That said I do know and understand that, for some people, it is very important and I respect them for it. The idea of having a Prime Minister who could take that away at the stroke of a pen is not something I want.