No One Should Be Surprised to Learn that the partisan divide holding up Congress for the past couple of decades has a deliberate component to it.
Members of Congress on Both Sides of the Aisle—Democrats as well as Republicans—have decided to choose party loyalty over the work required of their oaths of office.
As Reported in Yesterday’s Edition of The New York Times, Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader, conceded “that he had irresponsibly opposed increases in federal borrowing authority during the Bush years in order to impugn Republicans while Democrats were fighting to regain the majority.”
“Once You Get in These Battles Where You Break into Camps, every vote is about the next election,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who occasionally works with Democrats on difficult issues. “As soon as the last election is over, those who lost are thinking, ‘What can I do to get back in power?’ and those who won are thinking, ‘What can I do to stay in power?’”
Do Our Senators and Representatives Owe Allegiance to their individual political parties? Or do they owe allegiance to the greater public service?
Everyone in a Schoolyard Feud knows the risks. Once sides are drawn and retaliation begins, the end recedes farther and farther over the horizon. Even as Republicans demanded up-or-down confirmation votes of Democrats under President George W. Bush, now the Democrats are frustrated by their failure to get such votes out of Senate Republicans today. The Nation currently struggles in two wars and the greatest economic morass since the Great Depression. And what the Republicans and Democrats in both houses of Congress worry most about is....getting re-elected.
Whoever Steps Forward to Heal the Congressional Divide will display a quality of leadership which we Americans have not seen in a very long time. It is not easy to see how it may come about. It will not be an easy healing.
One Thing the American Voters Can Agree on, regardless of party affiliation or political orientation, is that the oaths taken to support and defend the Constitution are not honored, so long as party allegiance takes precedence over public service within the halls of Congress.
The Current State of the Union makes abundantly clear the need for both sides of the aisle to get busy mending fences. And to begin doing the work that they swore to do.
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Here Is the Oath of Office for
Members of the House of Representatives:
Members of the House of Representatives:
“I, [Representative’s name], 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 faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
(This oath and a listing of acting Representatives who have taken it may be found at:
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Here Is the Oath of Office for
United States Senators:
United States Senators:
“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.”
(This oath, as well as some historical information concerning the oath, may be found at:
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Read the article from The New York Times:
by Carl Hulse
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