They Swore on the Bible: Introductory Remarks

In addition to the general failure, I intend to do some naming of names. John McCain for example: this is not the conduct of a man of honor. I will even say that the Senator who perhaps has come closest of all that body to honoring his oath --Senator Russ Feingold-- still has not defended the Constitution with the dedication that such an oath requires.

Americans must understand that defending the Constitution is not some esoteric, legal matter. It is a matter of freedom vs. slavery, perhaps even life vs. death. It is a matter of preventing the rise of tyranny.

It is essential, then, that all of us Americans understand what it is that lies behind that oath of office. What lies behind it is the profound insight of our Founders that the natural tendency of political systems is toward tyranny and all the nightmarish corruption and exploitation and destruction of human dignity and rights that tyranny implies. The Founders constructed a system of protections against that natural downhill slide toward tyranny. And that oath is a means by which they sought to protect that system, and thereby us, their heirs, as a free people.

 1  |  2