Every senator and representative pledges an oath to uphold the constitution prior to officially taking position in congress. It goes something like this:

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.

That oath is a pretty serious thing to say. You 'solemnly swear to support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.' It doesn't say how they have to defend the Constitution, just that they will do so. They will also 'bear true faith and allegiance to the same'. That's pretty serious words there. You are required to support the ordered documents that helped create this nation from all others and have helped keep it head and shoulders above all other nations.

Apparently until now.

Now the current members of the republican party seek to shred the Constitution for the benefit of what could be called a domestic enemy.

This nation has soldiers dying in far off foreign lands and a group of elected politicians is holding the government ransom for the benefit if a slim minority of the population.

This group of politicians is in effect saying that the lives of the soldiers that are giving the ultimate sacrifice for their country mounts to less than the need for that significant subsection of the country to keep more of their money and effectively pay less taxes.

They are saying that paying less taxes is somehow more patriotic than dying for your country.

It used to be considered an honor to pay taxes. Sure, you didn't want the money to be wasted but it was part of your duty as a citizen of the United States of America to pay taxes for the good of the country.

You realized that your taxes paid for a wide array of government functions. Everything from the military to the school crossing guard was paid for by some portion of the taxes that we all paid.

It paid for the Department of Education to monitor and insure the quality of our educational system. It paid for the Environmental Protection Agency that insured that corporations were doing all that they could do to sustain the environment. It paid for the Department of Energy and Department of Transportation. We all paid for these departments and agencies to create and maintain a properly running democracy.

Now paying taxes is for idiots. In the words of Leona Helmsley, "We don't pay taxes. Only the little people pay taxes...,". The rich don't need to be bothered to pay more in taxes.

This paying taxes is unpatriotic seems to have crescendoed since Obama was elected president but got it's start many presidents ago.

Now the list of articles of the Constitution these domestic enemies want to remove has grown rather large.

In the scrum of the contest is Grover Norquist who famously stated that his goal was "... to reduce (government) to the size where I can drag it into the bathroom and drown it in the bathtub." Other republican politicians, both national and state and local, have signed pledges to enact the Norquist dream across the country.

Somehow it's become patriotic to wish to eliminate the government. Somehow it's become patriotic to want to eliminate the power of the government to raise taxes yet we send soldiers off to war to die and someone who makes over a million dollars a year can't spare an extra thousand dollars to fund the government.

Who's the more patriotic? Who's more the enemy of the Constitution and the nation?

And Obama has dropped the ball yet again.

Imagine if the other black civic and political leaders had behaved like he has. Would Rosa Parks have stayed in the front of the bus? Would those children have stood up to the taunting and the threats and harassment to go to school? Would those black airmen have fought to defend their country, to put their lives on the line to defend this country? (They actually believe in this country, the country that made life so hard for them and other minorities, that they fought for the ability to die defending it.)

I doubt it.

It's always easier to walk away from a fight. But if you don't stand for anything, if you find nothing worth defending, if your pride for your country and the pride for the office that you hold won't make you defend those things that you know are important for the country, well then, you are a dead person and quit the country a long time ago.

So, Mr. Obama. Are you going to defend this country or are you going to let a group of parliamentarian bullies take you and the country down.

Do you believe in this country? Do you want to fulfill your oath?

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

If not then Mr. Obama, please do the country the honor of standing aside for another leader to step up for the country. For you are unfit to lead it now if you choose to roll over once again and let the country down and give the bullies our lunch money.

For god sakes man, act like you at least value the fight...

Americans want to believe in you but you have given them very little to take comfort and pride in. Start acting like a leader and not the White Houses lawn jockey...