Well, I Swear! But to Who?

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic..." On 9/11, of 2010, I wrote an article with the title, "Domestic Enemies of the Constitution", which was published on Canada Free Press. This article discussed the various oaths that our elected officials and military personnel swear upon entering their new positions.

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I recently considered another article, based on the oath that those swear who are becoming citizens through the immigration process. These new citizens swear to support and defend the Constitution. It dawned on me that so many in our country swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution; yet, the ordinary citizen never does. It raised a question, why are we the people not required to pledge a similar oath? Should we swear an oath? It sounded like a good idea. I wrote the article, came up with an oath, and then sought advice before submitting it to CFP. What I thought was a good idea became a learning experience for me. There actually is a reason that we ordinary citizens do not swear an oath. Though I have listened to people take the "oath" and have written about it, there was a question that I had never asked. When a soldier, officer, senator, representative, president, judge, immigrant, etc. swear their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic; to whom are they pledging their oath? We watch on TV as a new president swears to... Who is he talking to; the Justice holding the Bible, God, or no one in particular? None of the above. Each one of those standing there with their hand on the Bible and other hand raised, are swearing an oath to you and me. Even though I have understood that we hire them to do their job and even though they are called public servants, etc.; it hit me that we really are the top of the line - you and I are the head of this government. When a president stands there swearing to do those things, it is him promising to you and me that he will obey this requirement that we have set on him. It is the common people who instituted this government and established this Constitution. They only serve at our pleasure! It is the regular people, across this land, that pick and choose who we will allow to fill the seats in Washington. It is to us that each of those chosen must swear to abide by our rules. We established the oath as a promise that they must make in order for us to allow them to serve us. "We the people", is not just a mental concept or good sounding phrase, it is the basic foundation that all the rest resides upon. WE are the boss! What happens in Washington is our responsibility. Either we approve and allow it to continue or we disapprove and take the steps necessary to make the needed changes. The reason that the common citizen does not swear an oath, as all the others do, is that there is no one to swear to higher than us. To whom would we make the promise? WE are the head of all of this - it is our government. We are not the subjects of the government, we are its rulers. It is not about the politician who considers him or herself to be the head of the nation or who thinks they are smarter than those in the fly-over states. It is about you and me. WE make the rules and WE are to insure that the rules are followed. They swear an oath to us and when they break their promise, we must take quick and decisive action to remove them. If we neglect our duty, they will become arrogant and tend toward being dictators, rather than servants. You have a responsibility to VOTE. Do not neglect your duty. It is "pink slip" time.