Guest Column: Charleston Library Board Refuses Oath Of Office

On one hand, I don’t see a librarian as an official whose duties are of such importance and hold such an impact on the lives and property of citizens that they should be required to take an oath to the Constitution – all public officials have to abide by it whether they take an oath to do so or not. Probably 95% of state and county employees, who have far more impact upon our livelihoods, freedom, and property get hired and assume their jobs without taking any oath whatsoever. On the other hand, the fact that some officials would go to such unseemly lengths to avoid a simple oath whose terms are neither onerous nor extraordinary makes me think that the persons resisting must really despise the state and federal constitution, and perhaps should not be in office at all. This oath issue seems to have become something of a novel divining rod to ferret out the sleeper communists. It’s almost like the reaction of the demon possessed to a rosary.