A Citizenship Ceremony on Independence Day - At Mount Vernon - Spawns an Idea
Maybe Ask Native-Born High School Seniors to Take the Oath of Citizenship Along With the Naturalization Test
Innumerable events and venues in honor of our Independence Day dot our family’s history. When deciding where today we should commemorate America’s true birthday (yes, 1776, not 1619), we settled on George Washington’s Mount Vernon.
Kudos to Dr. Doug Bradburn and all at George Washington’s Mount Vernon for superb work on building Mt. Vernon into a true destination for any visit to Washington, and today’s events. Mount Vernon has evolved in stunning ways since my first visit there in 1979. The Museum and Education Center, made possible by someone I once worked for, the late Donald W. Reynolds, founder of the Donrey Media Group, is spectacular.
We arrived at 9:30 a.m. in time to watch General Washington inspect troops, and have Benjamin Franklin read the Declaration of Independence, in its entirety. It was followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at his and his wife Martha’s tomb. Most people do not realize that the first Congresses and the designers of our US Capitol building built a crypt underground, two floors below the Capitol Rotunda, for Washington’s final resting place. He made other plans. The Capitol crypt remains empty.
But the highlight of the day was a Citizenship ceremony on the Potomac Riverfront lawn of Mount Vernon, led by officials from the local field offices of the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. They had help from Dr. Bradburn, who started things off, and of course, concluded with remarks from President Washington.
Thirty-nine new citizens from 32 different nations were sworn in, including from such lovely havens of freedom, democracy, justice, and liberty as Iran, Cuba, and Russia. Two US Army specialists were among them, and one from Moldova very proudly and emotionally led the group in the pledge of allegiance.
These new Americans did it right. They came in the front door. They applied the right way. And after a long journey, they have joined us as citizens. We welcome and embrace them. Of course, our immigration system is now under attack. That’s a separate topic and major concern.
Unlike the rest of us who are citizens by birth, they took a citizenship test. And today, they took an oath I’d actually never heard before, never having attended a citizenship ceremony. It is worth quoting here.
“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;
that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;
that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law;
that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law;
that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law;
and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”
God bless Arizona for, in 2015, enacting a law that requires high school students to pass a 100-question civics test based on a portion of the naturalization test that new citizens must pass. Arizona students only need to get 60 of the 100 questions correct to pass. Seems low, but okay. It’s not a hard test. Here are some sample questions.
But perhaps we should go one step further - ask all native-born high school graduates (or equivalency program graduates) to also take the citizenship oath. Voluntarily, of course. I am mindful of the First Amendment, including some religious objections, and get that other loyalty oaths have been struck down by courts for various reasons in the past, but this one seems to pass muster. We also require oaths for Senators, Congressmen, members of the military, and all federal employees. We do have a pledge of allegiance that seems to be okay. At least for now.
Those of us born here (or, born elsewhere of American parents) are citizens regardless. Perhaps it would pass muster if the oath is administered to demonstrate civic competence, at least for native born Americans. We’d have to think through the implications for children who are schooled here but are not citizens, and allow them to opt out (we wouldn’t want American students of parents attending foreign schools forced to take their loyalty oaths).
I have no doubt that many will be repulsed at this idea, especially those who feel their children would be intimidated into an “oath” for a country they believe is badly flawed, even irreemable, and unworthy of such allegiance. Would that mean passing an Arizona-style civics exam as a condition of graduation also serve as objectionable? How far are we going to go with this? Many us are getting tired of having other objectionable events and harmful, even hostile indoctrinations forced on our children; maybe we should be a bit more fair and open minded about a very classic American oath that our new naturalized citizens enthusiastically take by the thousands every week.
Maybe this is one way of starting to fight back.
Natural-born Americans are citizens by birth, and thus need no tests or oaths as a condition to remain as such. Also, education is the province of the states. But why should native-born Americans not be afforded the opportunity to pledge allegiance as our naturalized cousins are required? Every state should consider it; and absent that, there is nothing to stop local school boards from considering it. It would at least alert our young citizens of what we require of those who freely seek to join them as citizens of this great country.