Does Our Leadership Know What is in the Constitution?

Ever stop to consider what our leaders swear to when they are sworn into office? I have and I have questions, concerns really.

Here, in part, is the oath of office that each congressman takes: "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 … ."

My question is: If our leadership takes an oath to uphold and defend, and bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution, at the minimum, shouldn't they know what they are supposed to uphold, defend and be faithful to?

Congressmen, judges, the president and all other government officials take this oath. On an almost daily basis, we hear of one or more of them misquote or otherwise misuse the Constitutions powers, the Bill of Rights’ granted freedoms, and/or the well-documented intentions of very founding fathers.

If this misuse and abuse were merely ignorance of our Constitution, there'd at least be some hope because ignorance is curable through education. But, these people in Washington see themselves as our betters and rulers. They consistently show their contempt for the limits that our Constitution places on the federal government envisioned by James Madison, the father of our Constitution, who explained in the Federalist Paper 45:

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce. … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives and liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement and prosperity of the State."

The way I see it, anyone who wants to represent the American people in a position of leadership should have more than a basic understanding of our Constitution. Immigrants are required to know this stuff before they can be sworn in as American citizens. Why aren’t our leaders required to know it as well?