Political Bodyguard ?

I’m catching up on my reading too. For 25 years, I’ve depended on Time or Newsweek to keep me up to date on the important events in our world. Like most Americans, I simply couldn’t find the time to read everything I needed to read to remain part of the “well-informed electorate.”

Now that I’m retired, I can read a lot more. But I still read Time as part of my routine. And I read something from Massimo Calabresi’s latest article that disturbed me greatly.

Why Bush Needs Gonzales

“In backing Gonzales, Bush is influenced by advisers whose future depends on the survival of their political bodyguard.”

Perhaps it’s a good time to remind you of the oath that these people (including Gonzales , I and virtually every other U.S. Government employee) have taken.

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.

I’m not going to detail all the significance behind swearing allegiance to the Constitution right now -- most of my readers have either done so themselves or are smart enough to figure it out themselves. I am going to ask you to contrast the two -- swearing allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and being called a “political bodyguard” in a respected magazine. We’re not talking about a Vernon Jordan here folks, we’re talking about the Attorney General of the United States of America.

I think it is time to write a few other folks that have taken an oath of office.

Don Brown
August 7, 2007