March 23, 2007
Oath
I suppose that in the best of all worlds, say, one in which Adam and Eve had kept it between the curbs better than we’re told they did, we wouldn’t even need oaths. On the other hand, they didn’t, and we do.
For example, we conduct — or at least start — most all of our important corporate human endeavors with some sort of promise if they’re going to have any promise at all. Marriages. Baptisms. Ordinations. Enlistments. Inaugurations.
In our political system of checks and balances, we pass promises all around — executive, legislative, and judicial. One just doesn’t get the mantle without at least a nod (for some, maybe only a shrug) in the direction of wearing it properly and honestly. And of course, in none of these important offices will a private, unrecorded “interview” cut the butter as a substitute.
Even so, knowing about the debacle in Eden, we’ve got a necessary loophole in what may be one of the more important oaths of all. For example, in accordance with Article II, Section I of the U S Constitution, the president-elect recites the following oath: “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”
Execute the office? Yes, faithfully. Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution? Well, maybe, but there’s a catch — only to “the best of my ability” — an option which leaves open a lot of wiggle room and maybe some maladroitness to go with it. Incompetence may simply be “the best” of someone’s ability. Whatever, again no simple interview, all out in public, and records galore.
But even if that’s the case, it’s no excuse for not allowing lesser satraps to take an oath to the “best of their ability,” especially since they’ve no constituency to bother with.* If the boss can get away with mayhem and nobody hold him to the task, then why can’t they? Insisting on no transcript, no oath, no audience sounds like an admission that somebody’s wearing flammable pants. After all, Adam and Eve were liars. Maybe it just runs in the family, originally.
*The story goes that when Lyndon Johnson became vice-president and met for the first time with JFK’s hotshot team of advisors, he couldn’t praise them enough to his old friend and mentor Sam Rayburn. Rayburn replied that he, too, was impressed, but that he would have been far more comforted if at least one of them had ever run for sheriff.
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