Time Capsule: (and so on, as we get there)

William Wallace
(As quoted by Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart)

Read online here: founders.archives.gov/about/Adams

 

purchase from Harvard University Press: www.hup.harvard.edu/

"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe
free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless,
tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Apparently a thinker of similar ilk, take a look at this:
They're coming to America, right?

The Oath of Office

Not Just the President: Any Official Office in America

From grass-roots offices in small towns, all the way to Congress and the President

 

I, [name], do solemnly swear 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

 

 

Now, consider these points.

(Just consider; no right or wrong here. But do consider. Form an opinion. It matters!)

Question: do you think someone who has never read the Constitution in detail could, in good conscience, take this oath?

Question: do you think someone who has never passed an exam on the Constitution should be allowed to take this oath?

Question: what percentage of folks who take this oath do you imagine have the intimate knowledge required to adhere to and protect the Constitution?

Question: What is a threat to the Constitution? How would you recognize one?

Question: What does protecting the Constitution actually look like?

Question: What is a mental reservation?

Question: What percentage truly take this oath without any mental reservation?

Question: Is someone who disagrees with the Constituion in part or whole capable of defending it wholly regardless?

Question: Do all public officers even take the oath? Does your own City Council, say, know that this oath is a requirement for holding public office?

Question: To whom are those who take this oath answerable? Who enforces this oath? Anyone?

Question: the oath says nothing about loving, understanding or agreeing with the document in all its precepts and conditions. It does say "true faith and allegiance," but ask yourself, what percentage of folks who take the oath are willing to go to that place regardless of their up-bringing and/or personal beliefs? (Even assuming we could even agree on what that phrase means.)

Question: the Supreme Court occasionally hands down decisions affecting the accepted interpretation(s) of this document. Do those who take the oath need to swear to it all over again when such things happen? Who is repsonsible for making sure all government employees, military service personnel and holders of public office understand all the implications of such changes?

Question: Same question when Congress passes a Constitutional Amendment: are existing oaths now invalidated and must they be resworn? If such folks have private misgivings about the new Amendment then this means that are no longer "without any mental reservations," doesn't it? Can they keep their jobs? If they can't keep their jobs, isn't that a pretty good "purpose of evasion?"

Question: Can any one do all this without having a degree in Constutional Law? If not, what does that mean about our entire basis of government. (It takes 3 years to get a degree in Constutional Law, by the way; that's how complicated this document is.)