In light of the seditious incitement toward insurrection and the overthrow of our existing constitutional order by the treasonous scumbag currently still squatting in the White House and his psychotically sycophantic minions both inside and outside Congress, perhaps it’s time to consider resurrecting the old Ironclad loyalty oath from Reconstruction times:
I, A. B., do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I have never voluntarily borne arms against the United States since I have been a citizen thereof; that I have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility thereto; that I have neither sought nor accepted nor attempted to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; that I have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended government, authority, power or constitution within the United States, hostile or inimical thereto. And I do further swear (or affirm) that, to the best of my knowledge and ability, 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.
— Statutes at Large, Thirty Seventh Congress, Second Session
Originally implemented by the Radical Republicans in the post-Civil War Reconstruction of the defeated Confederate States to ensure that those who had held any office under the Confederacy, or a commission in the Confederate Army, would be barred from holding any similar office in a reconstructed state government, including as a member of the US House or Senate.
A basic requirement for being seated as a US Senator or House of Representatives member should be acceptance of basic democratic norms, including recognizing the legitimacy of certified election results. Anyone seeking to illegally and/or unconstitutionally overturn legitimate election results should be barred from serving, period. Similarly, anyone resorting to electoral fraud to win an election should also be barred from serving.
Clearly, the current oaths only requiring the support and defense of the Constitution do not seem to be adequately deterring the seditious attempts to overthrow our democratic norms by large segments of the current Republican fascist party, so perhaps something stronger along the lines of the Ironclad Oath might be a step forward in these perilous times. Thoughts?