Mark and McFlurry, AGAIN

Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2016 14:25:18 -0500 (EST)
From: Brad Page
Subject: Mark and McFlurry, AGAIN

My friend,

I feel for your kids and the hard calories they burned up in pursuit to doing such good deeds and reaping such inconvenient and pitiful rewards. This genuinely sucks.

Your response to Tarus B. sent me to the internet to look up the actual oath every naturalized citizen is required to take. You can check this out at https://www.uscis.gov/us-citizenship/naturalization-test/naturalization-oath-allegiance-united-states-america

Just in case you don’t want to spend time with this exercise here’s the oath:

Naturalization Oath of Allegiance to the United States of America

Oath

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.”

Note: In certain circumstances there can be a modification or waiver of the Oath of Allegiance. Read Chapter 5 of A Guide to Naturalization for more information.

The principles embodied in the Oath are codified in Section 337(a) in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), which provides that all applicants shall take an oath that incorporates the substance of the following:

Support the Constitution;
Renounce and abjure absolutely and entirely all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which the applicant was before a subject or citizen;
Support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic;
Bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and
A. Bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; or
B. Perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; or
C. Perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law.

The language of the current Oath is found in the Code of Federal Regulations Section 337.1 and is closely based upon the statutory elements in Section 337(a) of the INA.

I have to thank you for tweaking my curiosity.

Also, I notice there is no mention of ” Tarus B, When you come to the United States and legally become a citizen you take an oath to assimilate into our culture and learn our national language.”I reckon assimilation happens over time and I’m still struggling with Latin, French and Spanish although I studied but did not use these languages daily following school. Takes time. I’ve had the opportunity to work with the Literacy Council and their effort to teach English as a second language. The folks who get to the classes worked pretty hard it seemed to me.

With you, I decry the manner of young people to mangle English usage. I also don’t like it that young people adopt squeaky voices that run sentences a mile a minute but I’m pretty sure that’s a matter of not so good hearing (especially in the female range) that a lot of us75 year old guys experience.

I also believe higher wages result in healthier, happier and more productive employees. I live single man style on $1600 per month from Social Security. And that isn’t taxed income. Minimum wage in this state and country is taxed so what’s taken home is far beneath that amount. The truck is 20 years old. The rent is cheap given that I heat with a wood stove and cool with a window fan. I’d like to have more money coming in but given my health it ain’t happening. So I get to live within my means but I sure as hell wouldn’t wish this income on a family of four or even two.

Finally, a McFlurry isn’t likely for me. It’s overpriced sugar puff. I’d go for a nice healthy Big Mac.

Respects,
Brad Page