The official Oath of Office of both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, sworn to by every member of Congress, states:
I 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 and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.
This is the central commitment of every member of the United States Senate and every member of the United States House of Representatives: to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Not to support and defend the American people, who are all going to die at some point anyway. Not to support and defend the land itself, which has been around for ages longer than the United States of America, and will continue to exist long after the country itself has gone. The central commitment of every Representative and Senator is to support and defend the binding contract we Americans make with ourselves and each other, the American Constitution.
At a time when the Constitution itself is under attack, progressivism and liberalism come to a parting of the ways. Progressives, to be sure, stand for the support and defense of the American Constitution, but they also stand for much more: a clean environment, an end to racial prejudice, campaign finance reform, and so on. These are admirable substantive policy priorities, but there is a more basic liberal core that must be present for these other substantive goals to be accomplished. A liberal is someone who supports and defends the American Constitution, and the liberties which the Constitution guarantees to all under American jurisdiction. A liberal is, in short, someone who supports the constitutional idea of America.
We have had, for some time now, a Progressive Action Index ranking the legislative record of members of the House and Senate in the 109th Congress. We continue to maintain these rankings, and will create a new Progressive Action Index for the 110th Congress.
But when the Constitution itself is under attack, it is important to identify as many pro-Constitution allies as possible, even among those politicians who are not progressives. Yes, I’m prioritizing. Yes, I’m saying that we need to reach across party and ideological divides, to find a pro-liberty, pro-Constitution, pro-America majority — or at least as large a minority as possible.
To that end, Irregular Times has created a new Oath Of Office Index that measures the extent to which our Representatives and Senators actually support and defend the Constitution in their legislative actions. Do your Representatives and Senators support or oppose the central tenet of Americanism: support for the Constitution? Or in their opposition to the Constitution have they embraced an unAmerican agenda? Have your delegates in Washington been faithful to or violated their solemn oaths of office?
Find out.
Visit the Oath of Office Index for the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. Inform yourself about your delegates’ behavior, and then either congratulate them for their honorable conduct, or challenge their unAmerican activities in a phone call, a letter — and in your November 2006 vote.
James Madison once said:
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.†(citation: The Federalist, ed. Benjamin F. Wright, no. 47, p. 336)
For those of you that will argue James’ imperfections, let me remind you where we are today.
There is a reason why we the American people vote, there is a reason for the separation of powers, the separation of church and state. As Jim states, all 540 of the US Congress take the “Oath of Officeâ€, and to be able to take that oath, the American people have put congress people there with votes and tax money. With this public trust, public pay, and public oath, the legislative and executive branch now become public property (another spin on James Madison). If a citizen did not adhere to a binding contract, it would mean immediate job loss.
Our congress has thrown out the oath, given themselves an ethics epidural, and now the only axis of evil and eminent danger we have to fear is our government. However, it is not going to matter who or what party is in congress or the president unless Americans consistently remind them, and the Legislative and Executive branches promise to uphold “a government by the people, for the people, and of the peopleâ€.
Tyranny has started because “we, the people†allowed it.
In all fairness, this country does have a tradition of civil disobediance.
When Emerson visited Thoreau, who had been jailed for civil disobedience, he asked “what are you doing in jail”, and Thoreau replied “What are you doing out.” Thoreau’s point was, yes, you can decide to follow a higher calling than the U.S. government, but you should also be willing to pay the price for civil disobedience.
Are these members of congress willing to pay the price for following something they consider to be a higher authority than the Constitution?
The price they (or anyone going against the Bush Tyranny) would have to pay now that the Military Commissions Act has been signed into law (even though it’s blatantly unconstitutional) would amount to extraordinary rendition to some CIA secret prison to begin their “re-education”. Is this what we have become by being timid and letting Bush and the neocons get away with their game plan for the past bunch of years?
Can it get any worse? Just stay tuned. Once the debt comes home to roost and the remaining stability that our economy is teetering along on now comes crashing down with it, we’ll all have a good laugh while we’re starving, being led off to some “containment camp” somewhere, and watch goggle-eyed as total chaos overwhelms this country first and then the world.
The Military Commissions act is just Bush’s way of saying “Up your nose with a rubber hose.” hee hee hee. Okay, okay, I just couldn’t resist; I know waterboarding jokes are in really, really, really poor taste.
I think we all ought to take an oath to support the oath of office. I’m willing to make an oath that I’ll do so. I swear to that.
Walter,
I was just pondering that idea, when I realized we used to take a oath/pledge……..
Oath, Pledge, Promise – No one has kept their word.
There has been a lot said about the breaking of the “oath of office†lately and I have a couple of things I would like to point out. Yes I am deeply angered by the by the lack of duty on the part of our Congress and our President. I am also deeply frustrated by the lack of understanding of what the definition of duty is for our leaders and country alike.
Definition of Oath:
1. solemn promise: a formal or legally binding pledge to do something such as tell the truth in a court of law, made formally and often naming God or a loved one as a witness
took a solemn oath of loyalty
2. words of promise: the words said when making a formal pledge, especially when reciting a conventional formula such as that used in a court of law
For example:
First, among the many other oaths like the Hippocratic, Enlisted and Officer or Military oath, there is a civil servant oath also. When I became a civil servant (ie. worked in the admin office of the MN National Guard Family Programs) I went through a series of paperwork and then stood in front of my team members, as a civilian mind you, and was asked to repeat the following similar oath which I did so without reservation.
”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 and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” http://www.apfn.org/apfn/oathofoffice.htm
Second, there is also the fact that immigrants that come to this country wanting to become citizens of our wavering free society must repeat the following oath in order to gain legal US Citizenship.
The oath of allegiance is:
“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 Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
In some cases, USCIS allows the oath to be taken without the clauses:
“. . .that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by law. . .” http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/natz/oath.htm
Nevertheless, nowhere is it asked of our US born citizens to take such an oath, which here in lays my third point, the oath/pledge/promise that we are no longer bound to take.
Definition of Pledge:
1. solemn undertaking: a solemn promise or undertaking
stood by her election pledges
2. something given as security: something delivered as security for the keeping of a promise or the payment of a debt or as a guarantee of good faith
Up until recent history, our children whether US citizen or not, recited a bit of an oath at the beginning of every school day, The Pledge of Allegiance. For those of you unaware of the history of the pledge – here is some background below. Isn’t it amazing how a politician put the word “god†into the mix? The Pledge has been taken out of our schools and is no longer being held up for the importance that it is. Our freedoms are no longer center stage in our children’s education. Our children and future leaders no longer feel that sense of duty to protect our liberties, to protect their rights, to protect their freedoms.
The original Pledge of Allegiance
“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands- one nation indivisible-with liberty and justice for all.”
On September 8, 1892, the Boston based “The Youth’s Companion” magazine published a few words for students to repeat on Columbus Day that year. Written by Francis Bellamy, the circulation manager and native of Rome, New York, and reprinted on thousands of leaflets, was sent out to public schools across the country. On October 12, 1892, the quadricentennial of Columbus’ arrival, more than 12 million children recited the Pledge of Allegiance, thus beginning a required school-day ritual.
At the first National Flag Conference in Washington D.C., on June14, 1923, a change was made. For clarity, the words “the Flag of the United States” replaced “my flag”. In the following years various other changes were suggested but were never formally adopted.
It was not until 1942 that Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance. One year later, in June 1943, the Supreme Court ruled that school children could not be forced to recite it. In fact,today only half of our fifty states have laws that encourage the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in the classroom!
In June of 1954 an amendment was made to add the words “under God”. Then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower said “In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America’s heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country’s most powerful resource in peace and war.” http://www.usflag.org/history/pledgeofallegiance.html
Finally, where does that leave us besides cursing Congress and the President for breaking their Oath of Office? We as Americans have broken our oath/pledge by not teaching our children about the “rights of Americaâ€. Instead of compromising on our children’s behalf and just bring our Pledge of Allegiance back to its original verbiage we have bickered over religious idiocies.
Civil servants have an obligation to protect our Constitution and to report and accuse those that do not defend the Constitution regardless of their party status.
Our Pledge of Allegiance was an alliance between the American people and the Offices of the United States and that security is now gone.
What do we do now?
Oops sorry my computer gliched before I could edit. Sorry for the lack of white space.
Well said, Laurie.