Cliff Sisko MT Testimony: Veterans Oath

Attachment: 4624/Cliff_Sisko_MT_Testimony_-_Veterans_Oath.docx

Veterans Oath

Mr. Chairman and Committee Members

My name is Cliff Sisko, COS volunteer from HD?

I rise in support of the Article V Convention of States resolution being presented here today. As a veteran I believe as strongly now in the ideals set forth in our founding documents as I did when I joined the Navy. As a young man all of seventeen years of age I stood alongside a number of other young men and women and swore an oath to support and defend the constitution of the United States of America against all enemies both foreign and domestic. I have not been released from that oath. Like so many others who came before us we did what that oath required of us. Every day we put on that uniform and every time we went into battle we upheld that oath. Honor, courage, and commitment. Those words have meaning and substance. They aren’t just words thrown out like so much verbal gibberish! We acknowledge and live by those words. Every person who puts on and proudly wears the uniform of this great country does their level best to exemplify those words at all times. I feel I can’t emphasize strongly enough those words, honor, courage and commitment. Those words should mean as much and have the same impact on our elected officials both state and federal in upholding the oath they have taken as it did to all who have worn the uniform of this great country.

I took another similar oath when I became a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. You will notice both of those oaths say ”support and defend the Constitution” not the government. Right now I feel a domestic threat we face in this country is our federal government and the only way to overcome that is to give the power back to the states through the implementation of the Article V convention of states. The constitution is a constant but the federal government changes with each new administration. The framers gave us a remedy if that administration or the congress should abuses its power, that remedy is the second option of Article V of the constitution, a convention of states. There are those who fear the Article V Convention of States but their method has not proven fruitful. After sixty plus years they have not been able to achieve the tenants of their mission statement. I submit it is time to do what the constitution allows and implement an Article V Convention of states

I believe we are beset by a federal legislature who has all but abdicated its power to the executive. This is easily seen in our bloated bureaucracies and expansive federal departments whose tentacles encroach on nearly every aspect of our lives. We are beset by it power through a federal executive who has all but abdicated its power to the judiciary where policies known to be unconstitutional are put in motion in violation of the very oaths they swore to uphold, all with an eye to the judiciary for final determination.

We are besieged by a judiciary that consists of unelected and unaccountable judges, who all too often, exceed the authority given to them under Article III with the power to rewrite law or executive policy with a simple decision rooted less in constitutional principles and more in personal preferences, which effectively creates an oligarchy.

James Madison wrote in Federalist 47 that the accumulation of all powers legislative, executive and judiciary in the same hands whether the one, the few or the many and whether hereditary, self-appointed or elective may justly be pronounced, is the very definition of tyranny. I didn’t serve our country to live under that yoke. Governments are instituted amongst men for the sole purpose of preserving the liberties of the governed. If congress becomes a problem, who are we going to be able to go too for redress of grievances? The framers gave us this tool to use to maintain the precepts and rules enshrined in that beautiful document. If you believe in the constitution you must believe in all of it. It’s for this reason that I am willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with all of you as you fight to use the constitution to save the constitution, too bring the federal leviathan to heel and to return the power back to the states and to we the people. This ship we call the United States is listing forty-five degrees, anymore and she founders. Let us do what we need to too right this ship before we sink.

One of the issues commonly used is the Fear Factor, fear of having an article V convention. If you have ever been in combat you are very familiar with the fear factor but you are also very familiar with the fierce pride and sense of honor you felt standing together with your fellow unit members during a firefight. What is one possible consequence of giving into fear and not doing anything? Is it possible that you’re fellow Americans or your constituents are right? I hear every day from people I talk to that they fear if what is happening in Washington is not changed or stopped we will find ourselves in a civil war. I have had that fear for over a year. David Horowitz, in his book FINAL BATTLE, says this and I quote “America is on the precipice of another civil war” end quote.

President Lincoln found himself in a similar circumstance in 1861 with the Southern states threatening secession and trying to hold the union together. Efforts failed and as a result almost 700,000 lives were lost. I believe we can do better through the use of Article V Convention of states.

In 1965 unrest broke out in the Dominican Republic. The ship I was on was ordered to take on US citizen evacuees. I was in the head getting ready for watch when a young teenage boy came in. He walked up to me and said thank you. I asked for what and he said if it wasn’t for you fellows I would be laid out beside the rest of my family on shore. The hair stood up on the back of my neck.

I did not know how to respond to that. Let’s not let any of our young people today be put in a position to say that because we did not do what common sense and circumstances dictate we do. Please vote yes to SJ2.

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Created:	2025-03-10 22:57 GMT
Updated:	2025-03-10 22:57 GMT
Published:	2025-03-10 22:57 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:35 GMT
Change Author:	Daniella Landivar
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