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.
With only slight variations, the above oath is taken by all who serve in government, including the military, The question I am asking today is: Does anyone take their oath of office seriously these days? I suspect that most of those who serve in our military do take their oath seriously. But, what about our presidents other elected officials, , our judges, and those appointed to high office by our politicians?
I think I have asked a legitimate question. Think about how many times over the years you have asked: “How can they do that? It’s contrary to the Constitution.” Many, many times, right? And, if there is any outrage over these actions, it generally comes from conservatives. Rather than go through the litany of recent efforts by those in government to infringe on our constitutionally protect rights, let’s talk about the latest plan of our Secretary of State, John Kerry, who has announced that he will sign the UN Arms Treaty.
In my opinion, Mr. Kerry didn’t take his military oath serious while he briefly served during the Vietnam War and he apparently does take it seriously as Secretary of State either. How can an officer of the US Government sign a treaty giving a world body the right to negate our Second Amendment right to bare arms? It’s true that his signature by itself carries no weight unless the Treaty were to be ratified by the US Senate. But, it still goes against the oath he took to defend our constitution from all enemies foreign or domestic. And, it’s worth noting that he couldn’t do such a thing without the approval of his boss, the President of the United States, Barack Obama. To my way of thinking, both men are committing a treasonous act by signing the UN Arms Treaty. Apparently there is at least one other lone voice out there that agrees with me.
From The Hill via Weasel Zippers, we learn:
Texas attorney general Greg Abbott (R) is threatening to sue the federal government after Secretary of State John Kerry signed the U.N. arms treaty this week.
“Texas stands ready to lead the charge to have the treaty overturned in court,” Abbot said Wednesday, according to the Austin American Statesman.
“By signing this treaty, the Obama administration has attempted to subject Americans’ right to bear arms to the oversight of the United Nations,” he continued. “The very reason we fought for independence was to free ourselves from the dictates of leaders in other lands.”
Good for you, Mr. Abbott! I’m just sad there aren’t 49 other State’s Attorney Generals joining you in this law suit.
Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Asylum Watch 
Eventually the UN will rule everybody. Soon we will pay our “UN” taxes. And most people will be fine with this. Sad.
The UN was a dumb idea 68 years ago and it is still a dumb idea.
CoF,
Good article, thank you for YOUR allegiance to our Constitution.
(this will be a lengthy comment, this topic is extremely important to me)
Our Founding Fathers would look upon us with horror and despair at what we have allowed the great Country they established for us, to become.
Justices take a second oath of office in addition to the other oath:
“I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States. So help me God.”
Sometimes they substitute the two oaths for this combined oath:
“I, _________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will administer justice without respect to persons, and do equal right to the poor and to the rich, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ under the Constitution and laws of the United States; and 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.”
Justice Ginsberg gave a speech during which she said our court system should look to foreign and international laws when ruling on cases. Not only law outside our Country, but she also says:
“Judges in the United States, after all, are free to consult all manner of commentary — Restatements, Treatises, what law professors or even law students write copiously in law reviews, and, in the internet age, any number of legal blogs.”
http://opiniojuris.org/2010/08/02/justice-ginsburg-on-using-foreign-and-international-law-in-constitutional-adjudication/
Not only did she violate her oath to ‘…bear true faith and ALLEGIANCE…’ to the Constitution, she also violated her oath to ‘…faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as _________ UNDER the CONSTITUTION and LAWS of the United States…’
The definition of perjury is ‘violation of one’s oath.’ Today, we consider perjury to be lying under oath in a court, or Congress. However, our elected officials and justices are under oath AT ALL TIMES they hold their office. So, EVERY lie, by an elected official or justice, is perjury. This is a ‘high crime and misdemeanor,’ an impeachable offense.
High crimes and misdemeanors are not CRIMINAL offenses, they are POLITICAL offenses. They are offenses that, for the common person, are NOT prosecutable crimes. They are violating one’s oath, unconstitutional rulings, voting for unconstitutional legislation, breaking the solemn trust of the public which these officials serve, LYING to the public.
So why do we not impeach officials and justices, recall reps and senators who commit high crimes and misdemeanors? Well….because ALL OF OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS ARE GUILTY OF DOING THE SAME.
It is to our great shame that we the People have allowed our elected officials and justices to become liars and violators of the Constitution, our Rights, and our solemn trust. We not only tolerate lying, we EXPECT to be lied to by our ‘servants.’
I am loyal to my Constitution and my Country. I never formally took the oath as a member of our military or an elected official, but that oath ‘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…’ is written on my heart.
(sorry, I got a little sappy 🙂 )
I would never consider passion in defense of our Founding documents at all sappy. America could use a few million more people like you, Laura.
How does an unelected individual enter into any agreement let alone this? Might be a good place to start. I never heard of this before.
As Laura said so well:
There’s several ways around this oath for people like the ones you mention. First, some of them probably truly believe that they are upholding their oath and that it is our version of supporting and defending the Constitution that is wrong. And second, the words at the end, “So help me God” are an escape clause for some because they either don’t believe in God or put no more weight on an oath to God than they do on an oath to anyone.
Sadly, Charles, we have elected scant few men/women of integrity to serve us in Washington. When we see how Ted Cruz was treated this week, it’s understandable that people of integrity shun Washington.
There is no doubt in my mind that politicians do not take this oath seriously, it is just a formality to them on their quest for power. Once in office they forget this oath because they have never really examined what this oath means. As far as the UN arms treaty not having any influence because it will not be approved by the Senate; Obama doesn’t give a damn about what the Senate wants and he will do whatever he wants to. The question is, what will the Senate do about it, if anything?
“As far as the UN arms treaty not having any influence because it will not be approved by the Senate; Obama doesn’t give a damn about what the Senate wants and he will do whatever he wants to.”
That concerns me, Steve. The Senate already said they wouldn’t ratify it, why would he sign it, knowing it won’t be ratified? Won’t NOT having the treaty ratified be another black eye for obama, another goal he couldn’t achieve? Does he know something we don’t? Does he plan to try and implement it without it being ratified? Or, maybe he plans on using this for the mid-terms?
I’m not sure what his motivation is, I don’t like having to wonder what he is up to.
Good point, Steve. It was Bill Clinton that put Agenda 21 in practice although it was never ratified by the Senate.