Terra Extraneus

Terry Hull has commenced a project to review the 300+ blogs listed on the Blog Oklahoma directory. I have decided to do the same regarding Oklahoma-related law blogs. The first such blog to catch my eye may have to be in the “ones I like to disagree with” category.

Though he graduated from Oklahoma City University Law School in December 2005, and now faces one or more bar examinations, blog author J. M. Branum, Esq., is a senior member of the Oklahoma blogging community, with an archive going back to 2001.

Many Oklahomans would find some of his political views extreme or even offensive. But his taste for Oklahoma writers and other things makes his site worth browsing, and much of that material would not be objectionable to anyone. Also, we would imagine from the quality of his site and the range of subjects he entertains that he would be capable of healthy debate. If that impression is false, a bar examination and a year or so in law practice would instill in him the necessary humility. Too, it will be interesting to see if he can maintain his interest in his micropublishing enterprise through the coming testing and post-law school employment.

Mr. Branum’s views on military service seem extreme. His home page offers links for deserters and those who wish to interrupt by termination their military service. While many people found such positions less extreme in the 1960s and 1970s, when military ranks were filled by the involuntary draft, the Selective Service Act expired in 1973 and has not been resurrected as an involuntary draft. Thus, the people today wishing to vacate their contract to serve in the armed forces are not in the armed services by accident or by coercion, but sought and accepted the duty. They gave their word. Here in Oklahoma, that still means something.

The fact that a soldier might find military service objectionable because of personal political views is laughable. No one would be so lacking in intelligence to not know, prior to volunteering for service, that soldiers are sent and given orders to go, often to fulfill foreign policy obligations of the nation. The opinions of soldiers about the nation’s foreign policy are not relevant to their oaths of service and are not necessary to fulfill their voluntarily assumed duties. Theirs is to obey all but unlawful orders.

Mr. Branum will have to give his word upon successful completion of the bar examination. No one will let him out of that oath. He can resign from it. But, as long as he carries a valid bar card, that oath follows him and everything he will do or say. I wish him much success, but I would caution him never to underestimate the gravity of that oath. Our society cannot continue as a free democracy without people like Mr. Branum, who are willing, once qualified, to take the oath of attorney and keep their word.

Likewise, today, our military operates the same way.

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This is one in a series of posts by Rod Heggy, as he surveys Oklahoma-related law blogs. See this other post in the series: “Jim Calloway: King of the Hill.”