“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Did you say that? Did you swear to that or affirm it as is required by Article II, Section 1 of that very same Constitution?
That is the Oath of Office of the President of these United States is it not? Thirty-five words- pretty clear in terms of what you have supposedly sworn to or affirmed.
Does an oath mean much of anything to you? Does a promise with you fly with the winds?
How many of our Presidents have held true to those simple, plain words after they were spoken? If you are a cynic you might say that, like all politicians, the words were mere shells, something that had to be said, to be sworn to, in order to get on with their agendas. Perhaps sometimes true but I would choose to think not so a majority of the time. In any event, public opinion would eventually cause re-alignment as needed over time. This has often been true in the past.
Not so now.
It seems that it has finally happened. The general populace has either changed so much or been made so ignorant that outrage has now been placed out of sight and out of reach.
Nowadays people get outraged if someone does or says something that may perhaps be seen as insulting to themselves or their own special interest group or in some ways endangers their own personal agendas. They become enraged if someone even attempts to take away a freebie that they have been enjoying thanks to a large, seemingly benevolent but financially and ethically bankrupt government. They simmer and then boil if anyone has the audacity to state a position counter to their own on abortion, gay marriage, quota systems, welfare programs, health insurance, corporate or personal taxes, the legality of the use of hallucinogenics or narcotics, religious freedoms, allowable freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, military spending, global warming, birth control, voting laws, illegal immigration enforcement, intelligence collection rights of the federal government, the death penalty, the conferred powers of the myriad government agencies…the list goes on and on.
A good number of those issues, arguably key issues in these times, are not even referenced in our founding documents but they can all be argued within that framework if we chose to do so, as we have done so often in our history.
It sadly seems though the use of that framework, even a belief in that framework, in the very founding document that has served us longer and more faithfully than any other associated with any other standing representative republic (note I did not say democracy and if you don’t know the difference then that may be a great place for you to start your move away from ignorance) in the world, well, it sadly seems that these are no longer of much concern to a rising percentage of the population.
You don’t understand the Constitution or why it was drafted in the manner that it was and it appears that you don’t really want to bother to learn. I guess you’re not capable or are maybe just too lazy- which is it?
Did you know how much historical political thought went into that document? Just because we now have such amazingly advanced technology or such a widely accepted spectrum of lifestyles does not mean that historical lessons can now be forgotten or ignored.
Perhaps it is just too late for us. It has been known since the dawn of time that the way to rule is through the application of force, apparent or implied, and the calculated introduction of a steadily expanding epidemic of ignorance.
I will rule you because you are either too scared or too stupid for there to be any other possible outcome.
Shame on you, shame on us.
“I do solemnly swear that I will execute accordingly the Office of President of the United States, and to the extent that is deemed necessary, reform, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Thirty-five simple words. Does it really matter?