Husband and I just rang in the 4th of July by watching Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. It’s been years since I’ve seen that film, and it was even better than I remember it being.
Political machines are run much the same today–powerful lobbies, bribery, blackmail–and we have few people in Congress like Jefferson Smith (the film’s main character) to stand for truth and “loving thy neighbor.”
When Smith took the oath of office* to become a senator, I turned to Husband, shocked, and asked, “Is that still the oath they use today?” He nodded affirmation.
“But they said he had to support and defend the Constitution; hardly anyone even knows what it says! It’s like a joke!” He sadly agreed.
I am thankful for a day like Independence Day, when we can look upon the oppression from which our ancestors came, no matter what their origin, and embraced the ideals of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.” I am thankful for the many, the brave, who defend those unalienable rights to this day in combat and on peace-keeping missions around the world. I am thankful for the few, the brave, who have kept their oaths of office and defend those same unalienable rights before the wolves in Washington.
Please, take some time today to be thankful, and to pray for our country’s future.
*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.
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Edited to add: I don’t necessarily support any of the bills proposed in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; it is moreso the “standing behind what one believes is right with one’s entire being” to which I relate so passionately.
Also, my hyperbole gets the better of me: certainly most Senators know, or have at least read, the bulk of the Constitution; it is simply ignored or treated as obsolete.
Minnesota Mom 