Posted by
Dean D. on Sunday, December 14, 2008 9:22:33 PM
Sitting here watching the antics of our elected officials in Washington D.C. I often wonder if they understood the words of the oath they took when they assumed office? Did they hear what they were saying as they repeated this oath back to the person swearing them in? Or was it just an inconvenient little ceremony on their way to obtaining power?
Here is the oath of office for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives:
"I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend
the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and
domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that
I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or
purpose of evasion; and that I will well faithfully discharge the
duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.''*
http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Oath_Office.htm
http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/oathoffice.html *(oath copied from this site)*
In recent times I have trouble believing that many of our Senators or Representatives truly understood this oath, especially the section that says:
"I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against
all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and
allegiance to the same"
Regardless of their political views American Citizens must know the contents of this oath and demand that our elected representatives maintain this oath through their actions. Subversion of our Constitution must not be allowed. Too many of our elected officials have a strong desire to change the wording or meaning of our well crafted and time tested Constitution because it is inconvenient to political expediency. They try to outmaneuver the very oath they took through latrine lawyering. This path is a slippery slope upon which to tread and by their own oath they are mandated not to do so. When they try, we must shut them down.
I urge everyone to remind your Senators and Representatives of their oath and hold them to it. If you see them breaking this oath call them to account and spread the word of their misdeeds. Unless we start policing our public servants more actively as responsible citizens we will lose our sacred system of governance forever. WE must be the watchdogs of OUR Constitution, ever vigilant, ever responsive.
Learn your Constitution from cover to cover and understand the meaning of each section as it was written. You cannot support and defend something you are unaware of. All too many of us have become complacent in this regard and we are now seeing the results of our complacency.
Note: I apologize for not linking the Senate oath, TownHall.com did not seem to want to let me do so. You can copy and paste it to your browser window if you wish to view the actual page.