[crackmonkey] A modest proposal

[Seth David Schoen]

Rick Moen writes:

> I'll admit to being inspired by a rec.humor.funny posting, in this....
> 
> Seth, perhaps you should suggest to the UC Berkeley administration
> that it change the employee oath as follows:
> 
>    I solemnly swear (or affirm) to uphold the Constitution of 
>    the State of California, and that I am not now, nor have I 
>    ever been, a member of any organisation dedicated to the 
>    overthow of the government of the United States of America 
>    (other than the Republican Party).

Actually, if you look at Cal. Const. XX, 3, you can see the "original" oath
(the Levering oath, as it stood shortly after the original oath controversy
at UC, I think as of about 1953).

The second half of that oath has been thrown out by the courts, but it has
never been removed by the courts.  Here you go (my local copy):

CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION
ARTICLE XX  MISCELLANEOUS SUBJECTS

SEC. 3.  Members of the Legislature, and all public officers and employees,
executive, legislative, and judicial, except such inferior officers and
employees as may be by law exempted, shall, before they enter upon the duties
of their respective offices, take and subscribe the following oath or
affirmation:

		"I, ______, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will
	support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the
	Constitution of the State of California against all enemies,
	foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to
	the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the
	State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without
	any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will
	well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about
	to enter.

		"And I do further swear (or affirm) that I do not advocate,
	not am I a member of any party or organization, political or other-
	wise, that now advocates the overthrow of the Government of the
	United States or of the State of California by force or violence
	or other unlawful means; that within the five years immediately
	preceding the taking of this oath (or affirmation) I have not
	been a member of any party or organization, political or other-
	wise, that advocated the overthrow of the Government of the
	United States or of the State of California by force or violence
	or other unlawful means except as follows:

	________________________________________________________________
	(If no affiliations, write in the words "No Exceptions")

	and that during such time as I hold the office of ______________

	________________________________ I will not advocate nor become
	        (name of office)
	a member of any party or organization, political or otherwise,
	that advocates the overthrow of the Government of the United
	States or of the State of California by force or violence or
	other unlawful means."

And no other oath, declaration, or test, shall be required as a qualification
for any public office or employment.

"Public officer and employee" includes every officer and employee of the
State, including the University of California, every county, city, city and
county, district, and authority, including any department, division, bureau,
board, commission, agency, or instrumentality of any of the foregoing.


So you could simply have written in (while the full Levering oath was in
effect)

	or other unlawful means except as follows:

	________________Republican_Party________________________________
	(If no affiliations, write in the words "No Exceptions")


-- 
   Seth David Schoen L&S '01 (undeclared) / schoen at uclink4.berkeley.edu
He said, "This is what the king who will reign over you will do."  And they
said, "Nay, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the
nations." (1 Sam 8)  http://ishmael.geecs.org/~sigma/   http://www.loyalty.org/
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