Every US citizen should be required to take a constitutional oath — and to uphold it
When I graduated from the United States Naval Academy in June 1964, my commissioning oath as a naval officer was the following:
“I … do solemnly swear that 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 reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter, so help me God.”
During my four years at the U.S. Naval Academy, I was not required to read and study the Constitution of the United States of America, nor assigned any readings that covered the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention of 1787, the Federalist or Anti-Federalist Papers or anything on the natural rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (or property) at the core of our Constitution.
In reviewing the current online core curriculum for the Naval Academy, I could find only a firstyear required course that briefly touches on the Constitution. I could find no required course in the final year that covers the relationship between the commissioning oath and the Constitution of the United States. It appears the same is true for the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Air Force Academy, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, although there are elective courses at all four academies that discuss the Constitution.
There appears to be no required course on what it means to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic” and to “bear faith and allegiance to the same.” Who constitutes an enemy, foreign or domestic? What does bear faith and allegiance to the same mean?
Every individual who has ever served or is now serving in the United States military has made the same oath. All those who have served in the following U.S. government positions have made a very similar oath to the Constitution: president, vice president, all members of Congress (plus members of their staffs), all members of the Federal judiciary and their staffs, and all Senate-confirmed members of the federal cabinet. Additionally, every state governor, secretary of state, state attorney general, members of the state judiciary, and all members of the state legislatures and their staffs have made a very similar oath. Finally, every naturalized citizen has taken a very similarly worded oath. Only natural-born citizens of the United States who have not served in any of the positions described in this paragraph have not taken that oath.
Even though I served honorably for only five years in the Navy, including a year in-country in Vietnam, my allegiance to the Oath of Office I took in 1964 remains strong. Since serving, I have read extensively on the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention, the Constitution of the United States, the Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, the Bill of Rights and Supreme Court judicial review. And I am deeply concerned that some have taken the constitutional oath in the past but now ignore the responsibilities that go with that oath and, by their actions, undermine the very constitutional foundations of this country. I am also concerned that those who have not taken the constitutional oath, but have benefited by living their lives in this representative republic under the Constitution, have no real sense of obligation to support and defend our Constitution.
So I would like to offer the following recommendations. Those natural-born citizens who have not or do not serve in the constitutional oath-taking positions described above should make that oath when they turn 18 and register to vote. I would require all high school seniors to read and discuss the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention, and the Constitution of the United States. Our federal government, through the U.S. Post Office, could then issue each 18-year-old a lifetime federal voting card that would give them access to all voting in federal, state, and local elections, thus removing the requirement for any other kind of voter identification.
I would make the first Tuesday of November in the even-numbered years a national holiday so that all could vote without having to miss work. Congress should pass legislation specifying the rules for all federal elections, including restraints on gerrymandering and voter suppression, as granted to them in Section 2 of Constitutional Amendments 15, 19, 24 and 26.
Finally, I would like to see all four service academies have, in the year of commissioning, a required course that covers at least the Declaration of Independence, the Constitutional Convention, the Constitution of the United States, and the implications of making the commissioning oath to the Constitution of the United States.