We are at war.
In war it is important to know who your enemy is and what their strategy entails, so too in government is it important to know who our enemies are, and how they plan to attack.
The oath of office for nearly every civil servant and military officer of the United States of America requires that the individual “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”.
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) 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 reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
The oaths for federal judges and newly-commissioned military officers are the same. In sum, this means that millions of individuals have taken upon them such an oath. How, then, can so many people swear to defend the Constitution from its enemies, yet remain unaware as to who such enemies are and how they are to defend the Constitution from them?
By reason of our very citizenship we are responsible for maintaining the integrity of the Constitution. All those desiring to become citizens of this nation are likewise required to affirm with an oath that they will defend the Constitution from its foreign and domestic enemies. This is not an effort relegated to the high ranks of government; We the People are responsible for the eternal vigilance necessitated by the constant encroachment of the numerous hosts of enemies that seek to destroy and ignore the Constitution.
Who, then, are the domestic enemies of the Constitution?
Few like to point fingers and accuse others of so heavy a crime, and yet every day there are more people taking oaths to affirm that they will do so. Before you may act in support and defense of the Constitution from such people, you must know who they are. The relative ignorance of the citizenry regarding such domestic enemies affords them a wide open door for their activities. Our Constitutional defense thus becomes nonexistent, and the enemy wins the day.
I believe that there are two basic groups of domestic enemies.
The first and most obvious is the group of political opponents within our own government who pursue legislation and programs that are contradictory to the powers and principles embodied in the Constitution. These are the individuals who either refuse to acknowledge the Constitution at all, or speak praises about its importance in public, but in private act in a manner that contradicts its restraint. These enemies are not just those in power, however. Domestic enemies of the Constitution likewise include all those who support political officers who themselves are enemies of the Constitution. Anybody who rallies around such a banner (or plasters the bumper sticker on their car) shows through word (support) and deed (vote) what side of the field they are on. They, too, must be opposed, and exposed for the enemies of the Constitution that they are.
The second and more subtle group of Constitutional enemies are those who adhere to and advocate for a moral standard that rejects natural law, traditional morality, and Judeo-Christian values. Many of the Founders spoke of this situation, one of them being John Adams:
“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
–John Adams
Indifference, apathy, or the benefit of the doubt do not help in supporting and defending the Constitution. If anything, seeing such widespread inaction emboldens the enemy and assures him an easy victory.
We are at war, and it is incumbent upon each of us to stand up and be counted. We must identify our enemies, not forgetting to look within our own ranks.
Our republic’s success (and the Constitution’s) depends on our ability to accurately identify the threats around us, prioritize them, and act appropriately, diligently and, if necessary ruthlessly against them.
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