Oath was broken; it's time to resign

There’s been a lot of talk about the Constitution in the last couple of weeks.

So, let’s talk about the Constitution.

Here’s what it says about the counting of electoral votes:

“The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;—The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President …”

The president of the Senate, currently Vice President Mike Pence, counts the electoral votes. Whoever has the most shall be president.

That’s what the Constitution says.

It was true in 2000, 2004 and 2016 when Republicans were elected. It was true in 2008, 2012 and 2020 when Democrats were elected. Barring an amendment, it will be true when the next Republican is elected, the next Democrat is elected and if a Libertarian, Green Party member, independent or anyone else is elected.

There is certainly nothing Constitutional about forcibly breaking into the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the vice president from counting those votes.

House minority leader Kevin McCarthy, a Republican who later voted against the second impeachment of President Donald Trump, referred to the Jan. 6 riot as criminal and “un-American,” the exact word we used last week.

To support the riot is to stand against the Constitution. Unfortunately, that’s what one of our local elected officials chose to do.

On Jan. 6, as the U.S. Capitol was being attacked, Jay School Board member Chris Snow said this:

“Rebelling against tyranny is what America was built on. I applaud the Patriots who stormed the Capitol to stand against tyranny and for the Constitution.”

Perhaps Snow wasn’t paying attention in his history classes when he was a student in Jay Schools. Perhaps he simply didn’t understand.

But his recollection of history is incorrect.

The issue at hand at the time of the American Revolution was taxation (and other government action) without representation. American colonists at that time were not represented in the British parliament and therefore had no say about the taxes that were being levied on them.

What happened last week was not an uprising against tyranny.

It was, in fact, an effort to overthrow the will of the electorate.

It was not standing up for the Constitution. It was an effort to overthrow it.

Snow’s comments are the antithesis of what we should expect from our leaders.

They’re not cute.

They’re not funny.

They’re not meaningless commentary meant to rile up other Facebook users.

They are false.

They are irresponsible.

They are wrong.

Each school board member takes an oath of office. Part of that oath is to “support the Constitution of the United States of America.”

With his comments last week, Snow broke that oath.

For that reason, we are calling for his resignation.

To be clear, Chris, the actions of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol last week were not patriotic.

Neither was your support of those actions.

You have broken your oath.

You should resign. — R.C.