Words mean things
So do the oaths we take

I swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Recently I have had to think about both, that is, foreign and domestic.

And recently I perceive a domestic and sarcastic disregard for oaths and words, unless parsed by public relation and politician types.

And also recently I perceive a look down on the ruled population by those in the ruling class. My sense is that they exploit the poor public education in civics and history in our country, and amplify their power using the pitiful ignorance of the media reporters and their usual reverberation reporting. This divide, while always present, is the greatest I have studied in our history, or observed in my lifetime.

Fortunately, this is a nation full of local eateries and other places where we all talk. And the citizens there are from all generations and all with their own common sense. And the old and young all talk, and listen to each other. While this image is what is really happening, it is too often not what is being reported by the national media in New York and D.C. and the dispersed national media company outlets.

If the preceding seems correct, then allow for a good dose of educated fools, do-gooders, and citizens with good intentions to balance it somewhat.

Back to words and oaths. Legal immigrants take an oath of allegiance. The act of marriage in most cultures includes an oath.

Oaths are constructed with a purpose. My military oath was to support and defend a constitution, not an individual, not a party, not a religion, and not any identity.

The concept of an oath is as old as mankind. Yet it seems to me many today take the concept of an oath as a quaint protocol from the past that is to be immediately forgotten as another guide for the future.

Last, in my country, the USA, it seems like the Constitution is under attack because it is so difficult to change. This difficulty was built into the Constitution by its writers. It is not an accident. And so any effort to “do-a-runaround” that is led or supported by any individual who took an oath to support the Constitution is immoral and wrong to me, and no amount of word parsing will change this.

Such a person appears to be a domestic enemy (well intentioned or not) , at least to me.

If you can’t take an oath in good conscientiousness, then don’t pursue the position, or try to change the oath using the system of government as it exists today.

Words matter, and so do oaths.