Did Alanis Morissette lie under oath?

The Canadian singer recently took the citizenship oath to become a naturalized American -- sort of.

She had to pledge the following to become one of us.

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic ... so help me God."

But after mouthing the words, Morissette assured her homeland that her "dual citizenship" means she "never" would renounce her Canadian citizenship. She calls herself a "Canadian-American."

That northerly gale-force wind was Canada breathing a deep sigh of relief.

What part of "absolutely and entirely renounce" does she not understand? Does she know "abjure" means to renounce under oath, to recant or repudiate? Was something lost in translation from the Canadian tongue to English?

Morissette wants to have her Canadian bacon and eat it too.

She and millions more.

Any so-called American with dual citizenship, native-born or naturalized, wants the best of both worlds, allegiance to the United States be damned.

For many aliens, taking the oath is a joke, according to Peter Brimelow. The former Brit took it quite seriously when he became a naturalized American. Brimelow is the editor of vdare.com, an immigration reform Web site.

"The people in the room said it did not mean anything," he said about the ones who had no intention of renouncing their other citizenships. "They said they would go back to the Caribbean if there was a draft.

"Americans have a romantic idea about the swearing-in; that it's a major experience in people's lives. But it no longer is."

Why doesn't the government do something about these part-time patriots?

Well, it tried in the 1960s. But thanks to a ruling by the very liberal Warren Court in 1967, it was prohibited from enforcing any oath violation and, thereby, making it meaningless for those planning to hedge their bets.

In Afroyim v. Rusk, the court ruled that Congress has no "general" power (expressed or implied) to take away an American citizen's citizenship without his consent. Even though Afroyim, a Polish national who became a naturalized citizen, moved to Israel and voted in a political election there.

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service does not even know how many virtual Americans there are. "That is solely between the individual and the country granting the duel citizenship, said spokesman Chris Bentley.

It "denaturalizes" a person only if he lied on the application -- like former Nazi prison guards.

However, Ed Rubenstein, contributing editor for vdare.com, estimates we are harboring about 41 million pretend pilgrims.

The worst offender is Mexico, Brimelow said. "The Mexicans openly said they want to influence American politics. The Mexican government encourages dual citizenship so they can vote in both nations' elections."

Asking only for lip service to our oath is creating a fifth column of "Americans" who refuse to renounce and abjure allegiance to their potentates.

As the latest Canadian-American would say: Isn't it ironic?

Dimitri Vassilaros can be reached at dvassilaros@tribweb.com or (412) 380-5637.