He begins by stating that you should “never judge a book by its cover,” which he attributes to being a saying first observed during WWII. This is the first of the inaccuracies of his explanation. The quote seems to come first from George Eliot’s “The Mill on the Floss” of 1860 where a character in the book refers to Daniel Defoe’s “The History of the Devil,” where it references the beautiful binding as compared to the inner writing. 

This is a fairly good analogy of Mr. Clampitt’s statement. He makes blanket statements of how he supports the Constitution, the rule of law and how he is opposed to violence. He states that “A lot of good, well-meaning organizations become hijacked by overzealous individuals participating in an activity that becomes out of control.” That is the cover of Mr. Clampitt’s book. 

In the inner written pages he never does condemn the Oath Keepers as an organization. He attempts to pass the buck, to pass the responsibility onto a few rogues that just happen to be the founding members and the leaders of the group. This is disingenuous.  Mr. Clampitt either supports the Oath Keepers or must disavow them. Silence indicates tacit approval of the organization. Only actively denouncing them will set the record straight as to where he stands. If he cannot, or will not do so, he should immediately resign from his position in the state government as he has shown that he does not represent the people as a whole.

Luther Jones

Sylva