HELP ME GOD

Ralph Bristol

by Ralph Bristol, reposted from Facebook 1/7/2021 - I wonder how many people in the mob at the Capitol yesterday have ever taken an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic. 

The attack on the capitol that disrupted Congress’ constitutional duty to count and confirm the votes of the electoral college was not an attack on “democracy” as it has been described repeatedly, but something much more serious. It was an attack on the Constitution. 

It was an attack launched for the expressed purpose of preventing a constitutionally-mandated action. If a citizen of the U.S. attacks the Constitution, that by definition makes him or her a domestic enemy of the constitution.

The only gray area is determining who has self-defined themselves as enemies of the constitution by their actions leading to the actual storming of the capitol for the purpose of preventing a process mandated by the Constitution. One could argue reasonably that any attempt to coerce the vice-president to shirk his constitutional duty would also represent at least an attempt to attack the constitution, even if it failed, just as an attempted robbery that fails is still illegal.

That argument would certainly include President Trump, who held a rally just as Congress was meeting to perform said constitutionally mandated duty, urging his vice-president to show the “courage” to violate his constitutionally mandated duties. It might also include those who attended the rally and those who supported the effort on social media.

In short, it can be reasonably argued that January 6th, 2021 is a date that will live in infamy as the date that tens of millions of Americans either participated in or supported a failed attack on the Constitution. I would personally not include in that group any of the House and Senate members who agreed to object to the Electoral College votes, however misguided they may have been. That is allowed for by the Constitution. To the best of my knowledge, none of them sanctioned any attempt to disrupt the constitutionally mandated proceedings or the encouragement of Vice-President Pence to shirk his duties.

The oath I took freely when I joined the Air Force ended with the words, “so help me God.” If you take it as a solemn oath, as I did and do, you appreciate the last four words even more than the others when the rubber meets the road.

Even the most dormant believers sing God’s praises after surviving an ultimate test of the oath. Unfortunately, surviving one test does not preclude another, and another, and another, and it never gets easy.

I don’t know yet what to do with the fact that 1/6/21 exposed so many of my Facebook friends and maybe even a few actual friends, as enemies of the Constitution that I have solemnly sworn to defend. So…please help me God. 

Ralph Bristol is a former popular local conservative radio talk show host with Super Talk 99.7 (WTN 99.7) where he worked for 11 years. He is now semi-retired.

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