Posted by Patricia Lee Sharpe
Some years ago I raised my right hand and took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.” I felt privileged to do so. When I lowered my hand, my eyes were misty.
I still revere the Constitution and the Bill of Rights—and the corresponding rule of law carried out by civil servants (and foreign service officers and military personnel) pledged to be loyal, not to a particular president or party, but to that Constitution alone.
So I was feeling a little teary as I watched George Walker Bush take the oath for the second time. I didn’t vote for him. I don’t like the direction in which he has taken the country. I’m not so sure he respects the Constitution. But, indefensible polling irregularities notwithstanding, he squeaked through the election. So I wanted to watch him deliver his second inaugural address.
Suddenly, toward the end of the ceremonies, the phone rang. I answered, a little breathless, after six or seven rings.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was in another room, watching the Inauguration.”
“You poor thing,” said the voice on the other end of the line.
You poor thing! I got the same response again and again at a luncheon program I attended on inauguration day. How could I endure the anguish of watching the swearing in of the candidate I’d actively opposed, one who had shown so little respect for any restraint on power during his first term as president, one who allowed the U.S. to be tainted with the torture label?
“Easy,” I said. “It’s an important day in the life of the country.”
Sure, I could have gone on line and printed out the complete text (which I actually did), but I wanted more than words. I wanted the non-verbal clues to character and intentions: facial expression, body language, phrasing, tone of voice. You can’t counter an ideology if you don’t understand its appeal on all levels.
Naturally I didn’t bombard my sincere but mistaken friends with too much scorn. It is painful to watch a performance that leaves one fearful for the future.
As for my caller, I couldn’t let her off the hook. She had identified herself as a representative of the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and wanted me to join a group of local A.C.L.U. members on a legislative project. I was ready to help, but her attitude shocked me. I gave her the spiel full strength, plus a little coda on the grandeur of the oath itself.
Some ordinary citizens may be foolishly self-indulgent about avoiding political pain, but the A.C.L.U. is supposed to be our watchdog, ever on the alert for unconstitutional abuses of power.
Let’s hope this dim bulb isn’t typical of current A.C.L.U. leadership. Now that our once brave press has been overrun by yesmen and pussycats, we need all the watchdogs we can muster.
An incoming president swears to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution,” which means he agrees to severe limits on power: institutional checks and balances, the role of the senate in confirming high level appointees, the independence of the judiciary, habeas corpus, fair and open trials by jury, freedom of speech and press and association, non-establishment of any religion, the whole messy, glorious, superficially risky but deeply stable and secure business of being a democracy, which many members of this administration do not seem to respect. We need to watch this president. Too often the nice things he says are camouflage for the not so nice things he enacts. If we don't pay attention, we won't be able to hold him to the Constitutional limits that protect us from arbitrary power.
And, yes, before you ask, I’d happily throw the Constitution in the face of any other president, too.