The elderly gentleman wore a jacket with a military patch and a hat with the insignia from his last unit. He was unabashedly a veteran. "Did you serve in the military?" he asked me more or less out of the blue. "Yes, I did." So he handed me a slip of paper with a web address on it. The address was for an organization called Oath Keepers. On their "about" page it says, "Oath Keepers is a non-partisan association of currently serving military, veterans, peace officers, and firefighters who will fulfill the oath we swore to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, so help us God."
I have to admit ... I am baffled. I did take an oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It didn't occur to me that the oath went beyond my tour of duty, so to speak. But when I think about it, I don't remember any addendum like "while I'm serving in the military." So now I have to ask myself "Am I still obligated by that oath to defend the Constitution?" and, if so, how do I do that?
The question seems significant right now because, well, there are serious questions about whether or not the government today is violating our Constitution. The primary function of the Constitution, when it was written, was to establish a Federal government and to give that government certain, limited (and enumerated) powers. In other words, the Constitution is designed to limit what the government can do by delineating what powers the government has ... and no more. The Ninth and Tenth Amendments, in fact, were designed for that purpose. The assumption was that we, the people, have "inalienable rights". They're not conferred by the government; they're ours. Those not mentioned in the Constitution are still ours (Amendment IX). And those not specifically given to the Federal Government do not belong to the Federal Government (Amendment X). So ... when did the government obtain the right to, say, require that all citizens have health insurance? When did the government obtain the right to fire a CEO? How is it in the purview of the federal government to dictate minimum wage? And the questions keep coming.
I would be quite naive if I suggested that this was a "President Obama problem". The federal government has been assuming powers for a long time that the Constitution never assigned ... which is a violation of the Constitution. I'm not pointing political fingers here. My question is about the oath that every member of the military, the police, and the firefighters have taken to defend the Constitution. My question is about me. What am I to do to defend the Constitution against what appears to be domestic enemies? That's what I want to know.
4 comments:
Stan, thank you for the question and for your service to this nation. I have never been in the armed services but my grandfather was in the Army during WWII and lost several brothers. Until his passing a few years back, he wept every time he spoke of them and their sacrifice in defense of the principles on which the country was founded.
I really don't know what the answer to the question would be. I have wrestled with it a lot and have read as much as I can.
What I would offer is that we live in a post-modern culture in which nothing has any intrinsic value, only that which we ascribe to it. Definitions, words, people and documents are defined by contemporaries not original intent, context, or truth. I believe that's why it's so hard to even discuss the matter today. To "Defend the Constitution" for most who we would approach today would mean to defend it as it currently appears to the individual to be.
How many times in discussing the Constitution or if something is "Un-Constitutional" would someone make reference to one of the original signers, or say Patrick Henry's notes from the sessions in which the very provisions were discussed in their context and the actual meaning conveyed? Beyond that, how many times would the names Montesque, Blackstone, Coke, Locke come up? These men ultimately based their framework for government on ideas of Calvin which were direct derivatives of Scriptural truth.
I'm getting long-winded and I apologize. I can only say what I do personally, and that is write my Congresspersons and Representatives and try to bring up these very points. I don't see how things can improve, however, if 100% of students coming out of grade school today (unless they are taught outside the classroom by a parent or otherwise learn themselves) that all the above mentioned men understood that government is necessary because all men are sinners and will tend to do that which is wrong; but that government is made up of men (sinners) and therefore must not be allowed to wield power enough to molest the inalienable rights of individuals (which requires a rigorous set of checks and balances).
I'm sure this is no help to you with the question at hand, but maybe you can gain some comfort in knowing that you are not alone in the struggle. We have an obligation to pray for those in authority over us: that may be the best we can do.
Blessings.
Not too long-winded, Jeremy.
We have an obligation to pray for those in authority over us: that may be the best we can do.
Good reminder. Sometimes we feel like "All I can do is pray" as if "That's so little", forgetting, apparently, to whom we pray, His capabilities, and His sovereignty. Perhaps it would be better if we thought "Well, the best I can do is pray and maybe there are other things I can do as well." We are, after all, obligated to pray.
Hey Stan,
I would argue for a narrowly-construed oath - one that applies during your term of active service. I'm not sure what it even means to continue to uphold it after your service is over, other than to be a good citizen.
I like that better.
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