Swearing In

Heeeere we go with that whole "The Constitution Only Applies to Me" thing again. Newly elected congressman Keith Ellis (D-Minn) is an American-born, Catholic-raised individual who also just happens to have converted to Islam. Somehow I doubt he represents a national security threat, unless of course he's a Vikings fan too. I think the First Amendment still says he's allowed to be Muslim and express his faith in the manner of his choosing - even if that means being sworn into office using a Qur'an instead of a Bible. Either one seems silly to me, but it's his right to claim so good for him although I'm finding myself taking particular interest in the multiple ironies of his swearing in on Thomas Jefferson's personal copy.

You know, you can sit in the garage with your hand on the carburetor all damn day and you still won't turn into a car, so what makes people think swearing on a book - any book - is going to make someone a good (insert title of your choice here)? It doesn't take a genius to see that plenty of not so good people have been sworn in using a Bible. Don't look now but some of them might even be in office right now.

Where has all this well-thumped Bible swearing gotten us as a country? Shitty, underfunded schools & healthcare, a war that has sucked our collective coffers from a healthy surplus to another crushing deficit (a war which, by the way we're never going to win because the enemy finds honor in death for their cause - but death would have to be better than living in that place, right?). Then there's the economy. Yeah, that. --And who's running the Greatest Nation On The Planet into the ground? A bunch of people who were sworn in using the Bible. Fat lot of good it's done us.

As for me, if I'm ever elected to anything, I wanna swear on another book about believing in something one can't see: Dr. Seuss's immortal "Horton Hears a Who!"