I freely admit I’m an intellectual snob. My wife is too, just in a completely different subject.
I think if you can’t calculate a 20% discount in your head, you have no business running around in public without a keeper. Likewise my wife believes if you don’t know when the Battle of Hastings took place, you should have to pay extra for your library card.
Neither one of us knows everything. I couldn’t tell you the date of the Battle of Hastings without grabbing my phone. She’d probably use that same phone to calculate the discount.
Different talents.
But we agree completely on one thing.
If you sign a document without reading it, you’re an idiot.
That brings us to our elected officials.
The US Constitution
Every member of Congress, every President, every Vice President, and countless other federal officials take an oath that reads:
“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’s one impressive oath.
Unfortunately, current events, especially the debate surrounding birthright citizenship, have convinced me that far too many politicians treat that oath with about the same reverence they gave the Terms and Conditions the last time they installed an app.
Scroll.
Click AGREE.
Never read a word.
An oath is supposed to mean something. Instead, too many of our elected officials have made it painfully clear they either don’t know what they swore to uphold or simply don’t care.
I’ve long believed that before politicians are allowed to vote on legislation, they ought to prove they possess at least a working knowledge of the legislative subject. I also know the moment anyone mentions a test, someone will complain that it could be biased.
Fine.
Then don’t test opinions.
First Step
Test facts.
How many amendments are there?
Which amendment guarantees freedom of speech?
What does the Constitution actually say about declaring war?
Which branch confirms federal judges?
These aren’t trick questions. They aren’t ideological questions. They’re the sort of questions every person taking an oath to support and defend the Constitution should be able to answer without breaking into a cold sweat.
If you want to be an elected official, demonstrate your knowledge of the Constitution.
Passing grade and all that.
This isn’t some impossible burden placed upon earnest public servants. Or, depending on your level of cynicism, it isn’t much of a burden on those hoping to dip their snouts into the government gravy trough either.
The Constitution, including every amendment, is only about 8,000 words. That’s roughly the length of a short story. Your workplace safety manual is probably longer, and your employer likely expects you to review it every year. Somehow we’ve decided the people entrusted with writing our laws deserve a lower standard.
I’m not asking them to become constitutional scholars. I’m not asking them to write law review articles or debate obscure legal theories.
I’m not asking them to explain why some members of the Supreme Court believe the 14th Amendment only applied to the children of freed slaves because of when it was written, and yet the 1st Amendment doesn’t imply black powder muskets, the weapon of choice when the 1st Amendment was written.
I’m asking for something much simpler.
Study guides abound
Know the document.
Know what it says.
Know how our government is organized under it.
Know what each amendment accomplishes.
In other words, possess about the level of constitutional knowledge we used to expect from a reasonably attentive middle-school history student.
This isn’t an attempt to weed out non-intellectuals. The material simply isn’t that difficult, and there are probably hundreds of excellent study guides available online. If you’re asking millions of Americans to trust you with the powers of government, it isn’t unreasonable for those same Americans to expect you to understand the document that defines, limits, and restrains those powers.
An “Elected” Electrician
We require electricians to understand the electrical code before wiring a house.
Airline pilots are required to take hours of training and testing before flying passengers.
Doctors spend years in education and pre-Med before they can practice medicine.
Yet we’ve somehow accepted the idea that the people writing the nation’s laws don’t need to demonstrate they understand the nation’s highest law.
Knowing the Constitution doesn’t strike me as a particularly high standard.
It should be the minimum standard!
Today’s song from Songer… Constitutional Blues
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© 2026, Byron Seastrunk. All rights reserved.
Amen! Amen! Amen!! And I think that before anyone can serve in Congress, they should have at least attended and passed one of our Military Bootcamps. Much is learned in such a place and the “leaders” might have a greater appreciation for the prices that have been and will be paid every time one of our elected leaders agrees to let a war be declared – and maybe they will make sure the President cannot declare such a thing on his own! Right now, I do not believe our elected officials have any idea what America even is – they only know their personal neighborhood!
Don’t bother watching the disaster of a movie but if you have time you might read Robert Heinlein’s Starship Troopers. Military service was entirely optional but unless you had served in the military, you could not hold a public office, carry a gun or even vote. Radical for the time. Heinlein put a lot of his philosophy in that book.