By Tim Wood
There are various “oaths of office” that state and federal workers must take in the form of affidavits. I’m not going to list all of them, but they are actually quite similar in content.
I am quoting the one most commonly researched that is used within both state and federal law enforcement that the employee must sign their name to before they begin their job.
A. “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.
B. “I am not participating in any strike against the Government of the United States or any agency thereof, and I will not so participate while an employee of the Government of the United States or any agency thereof.”
C. “I have not, nor has anyone acting in my behalf, given, transferred, promised or paid any consideration for or in expectation of receiving assistance in securing this appointment.”
It’s no mistake that the first and most important oath here is to uphold our U.S. Constitution against real enemies (including domestic) that break our laws. It seems to me that a percentage of our law enforcement officers, as well as our service members, hold fast to the concept that they will never turn against any command given to them by their superiors, especially from the “Commander in Chief.”
These oaths of office are written in a priority, A, B and C. Every single government oath I’ve researched has always had, as the highest priority: “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States”, and is meant to honor our rule of law. That the defense of our U.S. Constitution should apply to all government employees that are required to take their oath before they even start work, applying especially within our civil law enforcement, military, congressional reps and the entire executive branch, with no exceptions. If you don’t like our laws, present any and all amendments to our presiding congress and follow our constitutional law to amend the existing constitution through our congress. That’s how our government is supposed to work.
That’s ironic, isn’t it? Since we are now witnessing the breakdown of our own rule of law within our own SCOTUS and the present Executive Branch. The battle is now raging between judges and Congress as they try to do just this: Change (or ignore) the accepted rule of law for new (replacement) laws that support a totalitarian regime; playing with law and military enforcement, switching loyalty to a regime, not our Constitution and our democratic processes.
In my mind it is quite simple: If people that work for either the state or federal governments (and all are required to sign an oath whose main theme is honoring our U.S. Constitution) and those folks break any of the laws set forth representing that very U.S. Constitution, those folks should be held accountable and punished accordingly, as those very laws require, which would include the President of the United States. If state and federal workers break their oath of office, they don’t deserve the job … get rid of them, period.
The main reason this country was founded in the first place was holding to the concept and vision, that no one single person, no matter their rank or privilege, is above the laws of our ever-changing U.S. Constitution. I think what we must do now — must remember and fight against — is what we see before us: The purposeful bastardization of our U.S. Constitution (which was written in order to build a lasting and true Democratic Republic) by the forces behind the Project 2025. We are now mostly through 2025 and it’s not hard to see were we seem to be heading. All one has to do is read the Project 2025 “Manifesto” in order to clearly see the road before us, that which our present Executive Branch is now pushing us down.
I advocate that everyone become a witness; keep on exposing the bare hypocrisies, expose the lying and obvious grasping for power and wealth; all that is going on now, presently, before our eyes. Claw back majority rule, and if you are law enforcement or part of our military do not carry out commands that in any way, shape or form, break the laws set down by our Constitution of the United States of America. Help us regain our past and proper integrity for our established laws. Help bring honor, empathy and integrity back into our governmental institutions.
In my youth, during the Vietnam war, the soldiers involved in the My Lai Massacre were all tried for war crimes with only Lt. Cally, who was given a commuted sentence (from Nixon) of house arrest for three-and-a-half years, convicted. About half of the some 100 soldiers from C and B Company refused to participate in the massacre, most notably a helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr., who was credited for stopping the massacre in progress.
After the trials, in which Thompson testified against Lt. Cally while defending his own actions, spent the rest of his military career ostracized and ridiculed by both the military and civilians, which brought on severe PTSD. He died from cancer, a premature death at 62.
This is a good example of a history well worth fresh review since our society is becoming numb to the present, ongoing atrocities within our modern world, both civilian and militarily. When you learn what happened to the few brave men that stood for honor and integrity within a senseless war, you learn the bitter lesson why so few have what is necessary: The integrity, honor and true bravery to stand up for what is actually righteous.
I encourage all Americans to look up the entire history of the My Lai Massacre and meditate on what we are witnessing before us today. It is time to bring the fight to the people that are undermining our proper democracy (and constitution) that is (was) based upon liberty, individual freedom and constitutional law.
Tim and Kristy Wood moved to Beaufort in 1974. He worked as a carpenter in both restoration and new home construction, as well as operating a shop specializing in custom woodwork, Wood on Wood Specs. He is semi-retired, involved with fine woodworking and formerly sat on the City of Beaufort Zoning Board of Appeals.
