The other kind of Oathbreaking
Many of us have already seen in Heathen circles lots of wild accusations of oathbreaking, usually over something trivial. This post is about something different.
It occurred to me that there are several types of Oaths of Office for various government workers, from the President and Congress, to cops, to soldiers, to attorneys and judges, to the multitude of civil servants, and even newly minted citizens. I got curious and looked up the texts of the various Oaths of Office for the above people, as well as how breaches of such oaths were handled in the past. I found that the vast majority of public officials are blatantly violating their oaths, and are subject to criminal prosecution.
This isn't a matter of being a member of political party X or Y; it's a matter of going along with massive violations of the Constitution, statutory law, common law, and due process, all in the name of 'going along to get along'. The problem with this (besides the breach of trust itself), is that it allows the power of government to be used as an amoral hammer by corrupt people, and that without real limits, there is no end to the corruption. And the whole idea of 'differences of opinion' only has weight when there is honesty about relevant facts. If facts are deliberately distorted or ignored when government officials invoke their power, then they have violated their oaths (or worse--treason may have been committed).
And so we reap the bitter harvest of injustice, disrespect for the law, disrespect for our governmental institutions, damage to our legal system, damage to innocent people, outright treason, etc. Legally, huge numbers of people deserve to be prosecuted and imprisoned. Morally, many of those people need to be hung for treason. And this isn't just an academic argument; there is more of this kind of perfidy going on now than at any time in our nation's history, and things can get really ugly when large numbers of people decide that it's a lost cause, throw in the towel, and revolt en masse. And there's a lot of unrest right now.
Oaths matter. Say what you mean and mean what you say, especially when the public trust is involved.
It occurred to me that there are several types of Oaths of Office for various government workers, from the President and Congress, to cops, to soldiers, to attorneys and judges, to the multitude of civil servants, and even newly minted citizens. I got curious and looked up the texts of the various Oaths of Office for the above people, as well as how breaches of such oaths were handled in the past. I found that the vast majority of public officials are blatantly violating their oaths, and are subject to criminal prosecution.
This isn't a matter of being a member of political party X or Y; it's a matter of going along with massive violations of the Constitution, statutory law, common law, and due process, all in the name of 'going along to get along'. The problem with this (besides the breach of trust itself), is that it allows the power of government to be used as an amoral hammer by corrupt people, and that without real limits, there is no end to the corruption. And the whole idea of 'differences of opinion' only has weight when there is honesty about relevant facts. If facts are deliberately distorted or ignored when government officials invoke their power, then they have violated their oaths (or worse--treason may have been committed).
And so we reap the bitter harvest of injustice, disrespect for the law, disrespect for our governmental institutions, damage to our legal system, damage to innocent people, outright treason, etc. Legally, huge numbers of people deserve to be prosecuted and imprisoned. Morally, many of those people need to be hung for treason. And this isn't just an academic argument; there is more of this kind of perfidy going on now than at any time in our nation's history, and things can get really ugly when large numbers of people decide that it's a lost cause, throw in the towel, and revolt en masse. And there's a lot of unrest right now.
Oaths matter. Say what you mean and mean what you say, especially when the public trust is involved.