We have criminals running our country.

By Averett Jones, Southside Messenger Editor

Criminals are people who commit  crimes

Crimes are violations of laws.

Laws are rules made by our representatives to ensure peaceful coexistence and orderly society.

The Constitution is the supreme law of America.

Our politicians, military, police officers and public officials and our president all took an oath of office. Our president said, “I do solemnly swear  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.”

As American citizens we have an obligation to conform to the laws of America. BUT as American citizens we have an obligation to challenge unjust laws. This is called Civil Disobedience. This requires publicly challenging a law and fighting to have it changed. Simply ignoring a law is not Civil Disobedience, it is criminal behavior.

Due to the thousands of unjust, poorly written, self-serving and unjustified laws I believe every one of us breaks laws on a regular basis. If, for example, you have ever thrown away mis-delivered junk mail addressed to your neighbor you have committed a federal felony.

My concern today is not those of us who are forced to be criminals by the myriad of laws that we are expected to obey when we are unaware of them. MY concern is that many of those who are responsible for creating those laws are criminals.

They swore an oath. They swore they would  “…to the best of my Ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and they ignore that constitution when it suits their personal and political interests to do so.

I think we will all agree, Richard Nixon was a crook. He and his cronies violated laws.

I am going out on a limb here. It appears that every American president since Eisenhower (with the exception of James Carter)used the office of president for personal gain and violated the constitution or the laws of our land. This makes them all criminals.

Regan circumvented Congress in spite of Constitutional requirements. That little Clinton/Lewenski deal violated several laws and then he lied to Congress. By the way, lying to congress is a felony. We peons can be charged with lying to any Federal official or law enforcement agency.

For that matter Adultery is illegal in many states. How many of our public officials are guilty of that?

Our current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has made it plain he does not consider any obligation to congress or to the constitution. He refuses to honor his oath. That makes him not only a liar but a criminal.