My life in the deep state
February 6, 2025
I recently learned of the passing of a colleague from my time at the Voice of America which, if you don’t know, is a government-funded international broadcaster. It began with radio news in World War II and today appears all over the world on digital, TV, and radio platforms in nearly 50 languages.
My colleague had a long, illustrious career. But as Government Executive wrote in 1997, her very first day on the job was an emotional one: “Eva Jane Fritzman was a nervous 17-year-old from rural Pennsylvania back in 1960 when she raised her right hand to take the oath of office every new federal employee takes.
“In the middle of the swearing-in, the official conducting the ceremony stopped and looked at Fritzman. She was crying. “He asked, ‘What is it?’” Fritzman recalls. She was embarrassed that she couldn’t hide how much the oath meant to her. She sobbed, “I didn’t know it was the same oath the president took!”
Though the presidential oath is actually a bit different, Janie’s pride is something that T*****, Felon Musk, and the mob that’s out to destroy our democracy will never understand. True, a government job is a paycheck. But for those who invest years of their lives in federal service, it’s a mission, a calling. Every person on the rolls, from the highest ranks to the lowest-paid civilian hire or military recruit, makes this pledge to the people of the United States.
“I, ___, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
My memory of taking the oath at VOA in 1984 has become a bit vague. The second time, when I moved to a different agency, is as clear as a bell. On September 11, 2001, I was reporting for VOA from the Capitol and ran out with the crowd when we learned Flight 93 was inbound. On October 8, I raised my hand for my new job in Atlanta, in a high-rise with a view of another bright blue sky. If you think “defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,” was a just string of empty words that day, you’re sadly mistaken.
In 31 years as a fed, I worked under five presidents, three of whom I didn’t vote for. I still put in the same effort every day, and the people around me did too. The level of dedication was always high.
Policies handed down from far above our pay grade sometimes caused discontent. We carried on. The workload could be heavy, the assignments and conditions stressful. But nobody locked me out of my computer, wanted me to be traumatized, or threw a bogus offer at me with a warning I might be fired if I didn’t take it.
Think about the people who inspected the meat in your fridge, processed your student loan, helped you solve a problem with the IRS, and forecast last week’s blizzard. Also the astronauts on the space station overhead, the Coast Guard crews that help boaters in trouble, and those who fight disease and poverty in some of the poorest places on Earth. They all work under the same rule book, the one written in Philadelphia nearly 240 years ago. Remember it well.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Originally published at http://daveswanauthor.wordpress.com on February 5, 2025.
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