Maughan & Maughan Attorney represents Wichita Bar Association at Naturalization ceremony.

On March 19, 2009, Carl Maughan, an attorney with Maughan and Maughan LC delivered the key note address as a representative of the Wichita Bar Association at a ceremony in which 122 people became Naturalized citizens of the United States of America.

Here is the text of the address:

Ladies and Gentlemen. My fellow Americans. My name is Carl Maughan. I am a lawyer With the law firm of Maughan and Maughan, I am here today on behalf of the Wichita Bar Association and the members of the legal profession to recognize and honor your choice to accept the mantle and responsibilities of citizenship of the United States of America and, to thank you for your commitment to this country and the ideals it represents.

Traditionally the hallmark of nationhood lies in language, culture, borders and ethnicity. Those hallmarks of nationhood are important to America for they tie us together under a common language, a common land and a common culture. As a citizen you are duty bound to preserve the language, borders and culture of the United States for, if we lose those ties we cease to be a nation.

However, in America there is something more. Something else that defines us as a country and as a people. That something more is our constitution and the ideals it contains. We are American by virtue of our acceptance of a philosophy and an ideology of limited government and ordered liberty. Citizenship is the embrace of freedom as expressed in the American constitution. It binds us together and, if it is preserved and nurtured, it paves the way to prosperity for us, for our country and for our children.

In other countries the nation is sovereign. Here, you, the people, are sovereign and, just as a nation will cease to be a sovereign nation if it accepts the dictates of outside powers, we, the people of the United States, will lose our liberty if we give up responsibility for our own lives. If we, the People of the United States of America, lose our freedom, and our sovereignty. The United States of America will cease to be the nation that was created by our constitution. But if we, as citizens, work to preserve the constitution and have the bravery to insist upon freedom then America will continue to be a shining beacon to the world. A tribute to what a free people can achieve.

Congratulations. You are now Americans. And so, In the spirit of Patrick Henry who, during the debate for the ratification of the constitution, proclaimed, “I am no longer a Virginian, Sir, but an American,” I declare that you are no longer Mexicans nor Koreans nor Canadians. You are not French- Americans nor African-Americans nor Vietnamese Americans. You are Americans - and you now carry with you the legacy of all those who have gone before, you, who have lived and fought, struggled and died to create a nation and a political system which President Ronald Reagan so aptly described as a shining city on a hill. You now carry the duty and responsibility as an American to live and fight, to struggle and perhaps die to preserve this nation, its constitution, its ideals and its philosophy for future generations of Americans.

The very idea, that we hold this nation, this republic, this bastion of freedom, in trust for ourselves and those who come after us is recognized in the pre amble to the constitution as one of the fundamental reasons for the establishment of the American constitution. It states that the constitution was established to – “secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” By choosing to become an American Citizen you have committed to preserve the Constitution of the United States of America and the blessings of liberty it secures for your children and their grandchildren.

It is not a small choice you have made, this choice to become a citizen of the United States. By taking the oath you have just taken, you have committed to do nothing short of keeping the city shining, of making it brighter, of preserving it as a beacon to guide us on to the fulfillment of our destiny.

You will notice that I have referred to your choice to become a citizen of the United States. I have done so because I wish to acknowledge and honor the freedom you have exercised by making this choice. No one forced you to become a citizen. No government agency required you to become a citizen, you chose to become a citizen and, in so doing you chose more than a mere change of nationality, you chose to be free. By making this decision you have distinguished yourself from those who live among us who have abandoned, or never adopted, the mantle of citizenship, and who would prefer instead to seek the benefits of living in a free society without shouldering the responsibilities and duties of citizenship.

Citizenship in its true sense, not merely its legal sense, is a choice. It is a choice not only for those who discard the nationality of their birth and raise their hand in a crowded theatre to take an oath of loyalty to the United States, but a choice for all of us. It is a choice that we make on a daily basis. Whenever we choose to exercise our God given constitutional rights, we choose to be a citizen. Whenever we stand up and defend the rights of our fellow citizens, we choose to be a citizen. Whenever we stand up for the Constitution of the United States and insist that others do the same we choose to be a citizen.

Ladies and Gentlemen, just as the pilgrims endured a long and arduous journey in the Mayflower to land on Plymouth Rock, You too have endured a long and arduous journey toward American citizenship. Your long journey is now over. You have made it. One chapter of your lives now draws to a close and a new chapter begins. And so, it is right that you should pause, to take time to relish your fortune, to thank God and to celebrate. But you must also take time to gather your strength, for America needs your strength. Just as the Pilgrims’ arrival in America signaled the start of the difficult task of building a nation, today you have pledged to take on a new burden, to heft a new pack upon our shoulders, to roll up your sleeves and to exercise all the rights, privileges and responsibilities of citizenship.

During the time that the constitution was being drafted, there was great speculation and concern about what type of political system the delegates would create. At the close of the convention, as the delegates were leaving the hall, an old lady is reported to have approached Benjamin Franklin and asked: “What hast thou wrought?” Meaning, what have you made? What form of government have you created? Mr. Franklin apparently looked at her and responded: “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

That response encapsulates the duties of a citizen. To keep the republic. To uphold the constitution which created the republic. To foster it and nurture it, to maintain this fragile political system that is our national treasure. That is now your responsibility.

The limited republican form of government created by our constitution requires the active participation of the citizens. If we do not choose to be citizens we cannot sustain this republic for long. By choosing to become a citizen you have chosen to accept the challenge of keeping the republic and preserving liberty for ourselves, and for those who come after us.

The constitution lays out in explicit detail, your rights as an American and recognizes that there are others that are not enumerated. What the constitution does not tell you is what you must do to keep the Republic. But all rights come with responsibilities. Discharging these responsibilities is the key to keeping the republic. The nation cannot survive if citizens merely insist upon the plentiful rights and benefits of living in a free country while ignoring the responsibilities that come with those rights.

By taking the oath today and by choosing to be a citizen everyday, you, like the founders before you, have pledged your lives, your fortunes and your sacred honor to the task of preserving, restoring and keeping the promise of liberty for you and future generations.

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It has been said that:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It will only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury. As a result the democracy slides into bankruptcy and eventually falls apart.


It has also been said that the life cycle of a democratic political system is as follows:

From Bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence, back into bondage."

I will leave it to you to decide where in this life cycle we might be in this republic. But the point is that without constant effort and constant vigilance, there is a natural tendency towards the loss of freedom and an increase in governmental power over the people. If you chose to be a citizen of a free country it is up to you to push back against government intrusion into your life and to robustly defend your liberty so that you might taste the abundance that flows from freedom.

The duties of citizenship are not just simple tasks, such as voting, or serving on a jury duty. The true duty of citizenship is eternal vigilance against threats to our nation. Vigilance against obvious, overt threats such as terrorism. Vigilance against the insidious, creeping threats of complacency and apathy. Vigilance against the greed of voters who seek only benefits from the public treasury, and against the self serving scheming of those government officials who would give it to them. and Vigilance against the erosion of our liberty in the name of security.

The duty of citizenship is the duty to educate yourself about what your elected officials are doing, it is the duty to speak out and act when the government fails to adhere to the true principals of the constitution. It is the duty to accept responsibility for yourself so that the government and your fellow citizens are not required to do so. It is the duty to insist that others do the same. And it is the duty to defend against the erosion of your rights and those of your fellow citizens.

As an American you have a right to speak your mind and a duty to become informed and to speak up against all those who would squelch the voice of another.

You have a right to bear arms and a duty to defend against those who would disarm you.

You have a right to praise the god of your choice, and a duty to ensure that your faith is not forced from the public square against your will.

You have a right to vote and a duty to be informed of the actions of those for whom you vote and to terminate their employment when they no longer serve the principals of the constitution.

You have a right to petition the government for grievances and a duty to know that the government is limited. It cannot solve all your problems, nor should it. As President Ford once said. "A government big enough to give us everything we want is a government big enough to take from us everything we have."

You have a right to own property free from unreasonable government interference and a duty to defend your property and that of others from any such interference.

You have a right, and duty, to exercise every right bestowed upon you by God, and a duty to defend the rights of the person next to you to do the same.

You have a right to say “ I am a citizen of the United States” and a duty to ensure that this status is not diminished by those who would seek the rights, benefits, and privileges that this country offers without accepting the corresponding duties.

By taking the oath of citizenship, you have risen to your responsibilities and faced up to your duties. For that I would like to thank you on behalf of a legal profession which works on a daily basis to preserve the delicate balance between rights and obligations. And, I would like to thank you as a fellow citizen who is deeply concerned about our ability to keep the republic. And, I would like to thank you as a father who’s children must grow up in the country we leave for them.

President Reagan once told a story about an immigrant who had escaped from totalitarianism to the U.S. While telling the story of his escape an American who was listening turned to his friend and remarked “we do not know how lucky we are” The immigrant paused and then said. “How lucky you are? I had somewhere to escape to.”

If we fail in our duty to preserve liberty in this country where will our children escape to? If liberty should ever fall in the U.S, if we allow it to be overwhelmed by our demands for benefits from the public treasury or to be squashed by our desire for security or to slowly wither because of our apathy and lethargy, then where shall our children find freedom? It is for them, for the next generation that we undertake our duties as citizens. So they may continue to live in that shining city on a hill.

It is in recognition of our responsibility to secure the benefits of liberty, not just for our selves, but for those that come after us that I would like to leave you with this poem by Will Allen Dromgoole.

It is called the Bridge Builder:

An old man, going a lone highway,
Came, at the evening, cold and Grey,
To a chasm, vast and deep and wide,
Through which was flowing a sullen tide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fears for him.
But he turned when safe on the other side,
And built a bridge to span the tide.
“old man” said a fellow pilgrim near,
you are wasting strength with building here
your journey will end with the ending day;
you never again must pass this way.
You have crossed the chasm deep and wide.
Why build you the bridge at the eventide?

The builder lifted his old gray head;
Good friend, in the path I have come, -- he said,
There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm which has been naught to me
May to that fair haired youth a pitfall be
He too must cross in the twilight dim
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him.

Those who came before us built a bridge to freedom for us. By taking the oath of citizenship you have committed to building a bridge to freedom for those who come after you.

If those of us who are citizens - who choose to be citizens – not just today but every day – if we embrace the constitution, - if we strive to live up to the ideals that formed this country - those ideals which bind us together as Americans, surely the city will shine for generations to come. Thank you.