Bush should defend Constitution

David C. Gallup Albemarle County
Published: July 27, 2008

Many of us, born and brought up in America, nurtured in its schools taking part in its public celebrations, recite the Pledge of Allegiance as easily as our family names. Seldom do we consider the meaning of the words we so glibly repeat.

In contrast, the Oath of Allegiance, which new citizens recite at the time of their naturalization, is a sobering list of detailed, specific and momentous promises. When those words are spoken, the occasion becomes profoundly more than a pleasant civic ceremony. Lives are pledged. Hopes are risked.

Consider that oath. It begins with the promise to defend the Constitution and the laws of the land. That may seem somewhat abstract compared to the further obligations to bear arms and to perform work of national importance. But it is no accident that the Constitution and the rule of law come first, for these must guide and constrain the use of compulsion and force, military or civil.

Surely it is appropriate for the president of the United States prominently to participate in the ceremony of naturalization. The president is eminently positioned to honor the foundations of our great democratic experiment. Indeed, the presidential Oath of Office makes this most clear:

“I do solemnly swear [or affirm] that I will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

New citizens should rightly be pleased that the country’s most prominent elected official should participate in their fateful ceremony.

Understand then, if you will, my dismay that the present bearer of such a sacred office has so tragically scoffed at the law and disregarded the Constitution. One wonders at his acceptance of Monticello’s standing invitation.

We and our new fellow citizens have precious work to do to uphold the pre-eminence of the Constitution and assure that law is the guarantor of justice. Intelligently, vigilantly and repeatedly, we must affirm our allegiance “to the flag and the country for which it stands.”