Pa. drops loyalty oath for candidates (no longer have to sign a McCarthy-era loyalty oath)

AP & boston.com ^ | 8-27-06

[jdm]

PHILADELPHIA -- Candidates for public office in Pennsylvania no longer have to sign a McCarthy-era loyalty oath pledging that they are not "subversive."

The requirement was unconstitutional, Attorney General Tom Corbett has told election officials.

The change was ordered after John Staggs refused to sign the oath when he turned in nominating petitions earlier this year and then threatened to sue the state.

"I believe their definition of 'subversive' can really apply to anyone," said Staggs, 59, who is running for a state legislative seat. "They want to be able to pick and choose, so they can use it versus people who are challenging the status quo."

The 1951 law describes as subversive anyone who advocates or takes part in "any act intended to overthrow, destroy (or) alter" the government.

The U.S. Supreme Court declared an Indiana loyalty oath unconstitutional in 1974, finding that the oath violated free-speech rights by equating an abstract belief in radical change with inciting "imminent" violence.

In Pennsylvania, however, the oath continued to be administered in most elections until Corbett's order on July 25. A 1975 attorney general's opinion said it was unconstitutional to require state employees to take the oath, but it did not address the provision applied to political candidates.

[goldstategop]

Me? I think we should have a loyalty oath requiring candidates to abjure Islam and liberalism.

(No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo! )

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

next they will abolish the Pledge of Allegiance and the standard Oath of Office......

[V.Foster]

Read Agenda #9

Long Term Goals of the Communist Agenda

In 1958, Cleon Skoussen, former FBI agent, revealed in his book, THE NAKED COMMUNIST, the long term goals of the communist agenda. This information is also contained not only in the Congressional Record (August 1963), but also in the Communist Manifesto itself. For the sake of brevity, only a few of those goals are listed here:

1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. Develop the illusion that total disarmament by the U.S. would be a demonstration of moral strength.

3. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

4. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of communist domination.

5. Set up East West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.S.

6. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the United Nations.

7. Promote the United Nations as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces.

8. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

9. Do away with loyalty oaths.

10. Capture one or both of the political parties in the U.S.

11. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

12. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current communist propaganda. Get control of the teachers associations.

13. Gain control of all student newspapers.

14. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book review assignments, editorial writing, policy-making positions.

15. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV and motion pictures.

16. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them censorship and a violation of free speech and free press.

17. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures and TV.

18. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as normal, natural and healthy.

19. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with social religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a religious crutch.

20. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the grounds that it violates the principles of separation of church and state.

21. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

22. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the grounds that it was only a minor part in the big picture.

23. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the communist apparatus.

24. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

25. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

26. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents.

27. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American traditions; that students and special interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political and social problems.

Each individual American can evaluate individually just how far these goals have progressed since this information was outlined in 1958.

[Chode]

don't ask, don't tell... is that it???

[WakeUpAndVote]

later read.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

IREY issue PING

[griswold3]

Bingo!
#10 - The Democratic Party has sold its soul for power!!

[jude24]

Me? I think we should have a loyalty oath requiring candidates to abjure Islam and liberalism.

Good thing the Framers of the Constitution saw fit to prohibit religious tests for office, US Const. Art. VI, Paragraph 3.

[Zeroisanumber]

I'm very suprised that this idiotic loyalty oath lasted this long.

[freedom moose]

3. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.
this doesn't seem to belong in a communist agenda

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Idiotic oath? You're for letting someone take office who doesn't even SAY they're patriotic/loyal? We get enough wolves in the sheepfold as it is!

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

To understand it, think of evil more broadly than just 'pure Communism' --it's about paving the way for a totalitarian U.N. 'one-world government' regime.

[Zeroisanumber]

Idiotic oath? You're for letting someone take office who doesn't even SAY they're patriotic/loyal? We get enough wolves in the sheepfold as it is!

Anyone who's going to play the Quisling isn't going to give a rip about any loyalty oath that they signed, and forcing someone who is loyal to sign one is an insult.

It's pointless, stupid, and crude. Ans, as I said, I'm surprised that it lasted this long.

[AmishDude]

I guess they had to do this because Casey was getting a little bit too much scrutiny.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Someone who is loyal and truly willing to serve 'for God and Country' will be glad to say so publicly, under oath. This is a nation of laws, not 'feigned good intentions.'

Sure, some people lie--and some even lie under oath. Hillary and Bill Clinton have done so (see Keyword HillaryScandals). But someone who takes an oath with evil premeditated CAN still be subject to perjury prosecution, as well as just removal from office.

If the UN/Communists are against loyalty oaths, I'm FOR oaths. Especially when true allegiance is a matter of national security and survival--as it indeed is.

[Zeroisanumber]

Someone who is loyal and truly willing to serve 'for God and Country' will be glad to say so publicly, under oath. This is a nation of laws, not 'feigned good intentions.'

I'll take the Pepsi challenge of loyalty to my country with anyone serving in government, but I wouldn't sign a oath to that effect because I find it insulting.

If the UN/Communists are against loyalty oaths, I'm FOR oaths. Especially when true allegiance is a matter of national security and survival--as it indeed is.

I'm not much of a fan of the UN, and I've been a strong anti-Communist since my college days, but I've never liked loyalty oaths and I'll never sign one.

[prisoner6]

Thanks...that comes in VERY handy.

prisoner6