Next Time You Hear the Oath Keepers Blamed for Something, Check Out Their Ten Promises

by Mary W Maxwell, PhD, LLB

The Oath Keepers are a few thousand Americans. They are veterans or are currently serving in the military, including reservists and National Guard, plus some sheriffs and peace officers. The "oath" that they want to keep is the one they took when they joined.

Enlisted men and women take the following oath:

"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; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God."

So it's reasonable that such persons, seeing today a lot of deviations from constitutional rule, have bothered to write up ten promises. Here they are, expressed as "what we will not do":

Orders We Will Not Obey (Says the Oath Keeper)

1. We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American people.
2. We will NOT obey orders to conduct warrantless searches of the American people
3. We will NOT obey orders to detain American citizens as “unlawful enemy combatants” or to subject them to military tribunal.

4. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a “state of emergency” on a state.
5. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty.
6. We will NOT obey any order to blockade American cities, thus turning them into giant concentration camps.
7. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext.
8. We will NOT obey orders to assist or support the use of any foreign troops on U.S. soil against the American people to “keep the peace” or to “maintain control.”
9. We will NOT obey any orders to confiscate the property of the American people, including food and other essential supplies.
10.We will NOT obey any orders which infringe on the right of the people to free speech, to peaceably assemble, and to petition their government for a redress of grievances.

In my opinion [MM], these are all proper promises by anyone who has taken an oath to support the Constitution. (I am assuming that number 4 means they will not impose FEDERAL emergency on a state that does not want it.)

So Are The Oath Keepers "Extremists"?

The propaganda about the January 6 event has caused most Americans to think that the label of "extremist" is correct, in regard to Oath Keepers. Is it true? I almost fell for it myself.

I'm a maniac for the US Constitution. Having looked at the Oath Keepers promises, which I found on the Internet, I've not been able to discern anything in them that runs afoul of the Constitution in any way.

Let me show you that the Oath Keepers' promises "We will not obey" are in perfect accord with the beloved parchment:

Promise 1 -- the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights forbids disarming the people.
Promise 2 -- the Fourth Amendment requires that a search be preceded by a warrant from a judge.
Promise 3 -- the Fifth amendment give every civilian the right to a trial by a jury of his peers (not a military tribunal).
Promise 4 -- (I will have to come back to this one.)*
Promise 5 -- The Constitution as a whole did not squelch the sovereignty of the 13 states, except for matters enumerated in Article I, section 8.
Promise 6 -- I can't find any part of the Constitution that would permit the government to blockade a city.
Promise 7 -- The Sixth Amendment protects every person from imprisonment except those who were convicted of crime via due process of law.
Promise 8 -- (I almost don't want to dignify this one with a response): The US, being a sovereign nation, is not subjectable to the authority of any foreign nation or any alliance of nations.
Promise 9 -- The Fifth Amendment says property may not be seized except by due process and fair compensation must be given.
Promise 10 -- The First Amendment protects free speech, the right to assemble and to present grievances to government.

*My hesitance over # 4 has to do with the fact that jurists and scholars have read into Article I, section 9 of the Constitution that suspending habeas corpus -- which Congress can constitutionally do -- can be equated with martial law.

Note, however, in regard to the right to impose a state of emergency, the US Supreme Court in the 1931 Blaisdell case, said emphatically that an emergency does not change any provision of the Constitution.

Old and New

After the Framers drafted the constitution in1787, it was sent out to the 13 states for the people to debate. And debate they did. Please see Pauline Maier's marvelous three-hour discussion on Ratification, at C-Span, or read her 700-page book. It is a patriotic and intellectual thrill.

Luckily, the people did ratify the Constitution, and it's still (still, at the moment anyway) ours. But in the 21st century, Americans stopped being so aware of their power, and their duty. We have a bunch of bullies in Washington (and hanging around in secret places somewhere) dishing out bad orders.

Thus, in 2009, Stewart Rhodes, a veteran and lawyer, said Eeenuf! I say this too, every chance I get. Eeenuf with pretending the Constitution has been outvoted. (If you want to change the parchment, fine. Just follow the instructions for amending, in Article V.) Eeenuf with the UN, the WHO, the CFR and other claimants to the throne. Get the hell outta here. We the People are in Full Charge. Got it?

A Word about January 6, 2021

On January 6, 2021, many people stormed the Capitol. Or at least some appeared to be in storming mode, climbing the outer walls and breaking glass, but actually the "doormen" let folks in. I don't understand what really transpired and can't even attempt to research it, as the "regime" in power won't give a bit of honest information.

In other January 6th discussions, particularly about the Electoral College, I have said that there was no role for violent protestation of the apparently fake vote count from the November 2020 presidential election. That's because the Constitution, at Amendment 12, and federal law, at 3 USC 15, do a reasonable job of instructing Congress how to handle such a problem.

(And they did so: 138 reps and a few senators voted to reject the electoral ballots from two states. But a majority outvoted them. This occurred in the wee hours of January 7, 2021 after the "riot" ended.)

Ask: Did Oath Keepers act illegally on January 6, 2021? Probably most of their members are heavily committed to acting constitutionally. If some aren't, they could well be plants. (Boy, am I sick of plants.) The impression that they are no-goodniks has been broadcast in the usual smearing way. However, a giveaway is the fact that many Oath Keepers pled Guilty to charges that they did such-and-such on January 6.

Why do I call this a giveaway? Our disgusting Department of Justice is in the habit of keeping a person for several months in solitary confinement, after which the person is likely to agree to a plea, as he/she needs to go home (or go mental). Thus, in regard to such a controversial issue as Oath Keepers and the stolen election, a guilty plea should not be taken as indicative of guilt.

American citizens today cannot count on due process. Period.

I may be wrong. Please read the ten promises again and let me know if I've missed something.

Below is a link to the pdf of my book, Boston's Marathon Bombing. Best to buy it at Amazon for 15 bucks before it gets disappeared. If the people of Massachusetts would put a modicum of effort into doing their civic duty -- rejecting the Boston Stronger nonsense propaganda -- the whole country might sleep better.

And here's a little tweak on the "2,000 Mules" story: