You may, or may not, have heard of the story where President Obama retook his oath of office because they screwed it up at the inauguration – mixing up a word or two.
Supposedly, some lawyers were half-joking that not abiding my the Constitution exactly, by not stating the exact words for the oath of office, there is a doubt, or question, that he is truly and officially the President of the United States. So, they did a “do-over”.
When I heard this, I seriously gave out a burst of laughter saying “So, now they actually care about what the Constitution says!”.
In the United States, the oath of office for the President of the United States is specified in the U.S. Constitution (Article II, Section 1):
- I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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.
When was the last time that actually happened?
Ever since FDR proclaimed that the Constitution was “quaint” and written in the “horse and buggy era,” congress has enacted and the president has signed laws that criminalized political speech, suspended habeas corpus, compelled support for illegal wars, allowed the government to spy on Americans without a search warrant, used taxpayer dollars to shore up failing private banks, etc, etc, and etc. This quick note could be a 100 page book of lists.
All of this legislation — merely the tip of an unconstitutional Big Government iceberg — is so obviously in conflict with the plain words of the Constitution that one wonders how Congress and the President gets away with it – day after day after day.
But, when they are concerned about the legitimacy of themselves in power, THEN what the Constitution says all of the sudden means something to them. Sure is convenient that they can pick and choose when to apply the Constitution and when they don’t have to.
It’s so sad, it’s almost hilarious…
4 comments ↓
A really good perspective on our political system, Steve. They pay the Constitution lip service – nothing but rhetoric – but never seem to follow it except when they feel they have to.
I think Lysander Spooner put it best:
“whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain – that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case, it is unfit to exist.”
I’d like to see the politicians actually abide by the Constitution – but to assume they ever will when it matters is downright foolish.
Steve, a great article. Steve it is my belief that the reason so little regard is given the Constitution by our elected and appointed leaders is that they know there is no punishment for failure to obey the law.
They know that no President has ever been tried for breaking laws that they swore to uphold. And they should feel very confident that one never will.
But if I sound like a broken record I will say it again “We can punish the Party that enabled them”, and no one can stop us if we so desire to punish that party.
Never vote for a candidate of that party again. It only has to be done successfully one time. Parties work too hard to lose their status. Punishment will warn the surviving parties that we banished a Party once and we will do it again. The next time much more quickly. Change will definitely occur.
The Constitution is nothing more than a game to these people. What a joke. Your’e right it IS almost hilarious. History is definitely going to be laughing at us.
The Constitution is a wonderful document, extremely well written, and so easy to read. Our Forefathers really knew what they were doing.
You are all so right, they continue to trash it, but use it when it suits them.
The only way we MAY be able to stop this trashing of our Constitution is to bombard Congress with hundreds of thousands of phone calls and e-mails. They would have to listen. But, Americans will have to unite and do it.
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