That (from memory) is the first sentence of the oath sworn to by every member of the Armed Forces. All those elected to Federal office or appointed to the Federal judiciary swear a similar oath.
Note what has primacy in the oath. It's not obeying the orders of the Chimperor or one's superiors, it is to the Constitution. There is nothing in there about defending the
And yes, that includes all of those pesky amendments in the Bill of Rights; the ones that make it illegal to engage in "cruel or unusual punishment" or to detain people without probable cause or to hold people without access to counsel or trial or to search without a warrant. That's the sort of stuff that the British Crown did and that's why our forefathers rose up and began a war of rebellion.
And those are the same things that this current government is doing today.
The Founding Fathers well understood the power of ideas and ideals. That is why they defined the United States not as a territory within certain borders, but as a nation devoted to the ideas of freedom and liberty. Yes, it was imperfect at the start and yes, it's not perfect now. But we had been making progress for the most part for over 200 years, getting closer and closer to that "more perfect union."
Until, that is, George Bush and his fascist underlings came into office. As soon as they had an excuse, they began chipping away at freedom and liberty, under the same extreme right-wing agenda of Joe McCarthy and the rest of the freedom-haters. Their idea of freedom is 'freedom to think as we do", which is not freedom.
We have gone from "I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" to "if you disagree with what I say, you are an enemy of freedom." That is beyond shameful.
And that is exactly what George Bush has brought about.
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