Imagine the outrage if a judge decided he was going to no longer find any driver guilty if charged with speeding or reckless driving because he doesn’t like those laws.

On January 18, 2013, Mark Herring, before television cameras and hundreds of spectators, placed his hand on the bible and swore to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia.

He did not swear to uphold the laws he liked and agreed with but rather all the laws that have been passed and signed into law.

Within a matter of months, he broke that sworn commitment to uphold the constitution because he did not agree with a particular portion that had been duly approved by the voters of Virginia.

Since that time, he has declined to defend particular laws.

Regrettably, he is not the only duly elected individual to have ignored the laws and constitutions they swore to uphold.

In January 2008, Barack Obama made a similar sworn oath. Yet he has ignored federal laws — those involving immigration just to mention one. He has ignored when his cabinet secretaries broke laws; never even taking any steps to reprimand them.

His former Attorney General, Eric Holder, looked the other way and later promoted the staff member that oversaw the “Fast and Furious” operation. This Justice Department fiasco allowed and encouraged gun dealers to sell guns to those forbidden to own them.

This resulted in numerous deaths in our country and Mexico. No has ever explained what the reasoning for this action was.

His former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, unlawfully used unsecure internet connections that may well have been tapped by foreign governments; risking our national security and, if she is elected President, setting herself up for those who might choose to blackmail her.

Currently, we have presidential candidates from both political parties wooing crowds with their own plans to ignore existing law.

While President Obama wants to allow thousands of possible terrorists from the middle east, the former Maryland governor wants to bring in 65,000 with no consideration of their political associations much less their skills and talents.

On the Republican side, we have one candidate that has declared that he does not care about the rule of law. He will take action even if it defies the constitution and the law.

I write this one week after the official week honoring and celebrating our constitution. It grieves me that so many leaders or wannabe leaders would so casually ignore the rules with which our country developed into a prosperous nation that leads the world.

If we are to recover from the shortfalls of the last several years, we must agree that we will no longer accept leaders who ignore the foundation of our orderly form of government.

This will require each of us to look at the past actions of candidates. It requires us to listen to what the candidates are saying. Are they saying things that are in accordance with the constitution and current law?

If they are not, are they explaining how they will encourage Congress to make the changes necessary? If we go twelve years with presidents ignoring the constitution and the law, we may as well eliminate Congress and have an elected monarch.

FRANK RUFF, a Republican, represents Lunenburg County in the Virginia State Senate. His email address is Sen.Ruff@verizon.net.