…We meet again at democracy’s great port of call. Every two years, at this hour, the Constitution brings a new order to this House. It is an interlude for reflection, a glimpse of old truths.

To our new members and their families, welcome. You are likely feeling awestruck right about now. History runs through here. And now you are among a select few to share in this privilege.

For those who are returning, who have walked these aisles before, maybe it’s time we feel awestruck again.

The way our founders envisioned it, the republic would be led by citizens who recognize that the blessing of governing ourselves requires that we give something of ourselves. Everything depended on this. So they made each other – and their successors – swear an oath of allegiance.

In a few moments, I will take this oath for the twelfth time as representative of the Eighth District of Ohio. It is word for word the same oath we all take.

Note that it makes no mention of party, faction, or title … contains no reference to agendas or platforms – only to the Constitution

The one addition we dare to make, as George Washington did at the first inaugural, is to invoke the assistance of our Heavenly Father.

This covenant makes us servants of posterity. It calls us to refuse the pull of passing interests and follow the fixed star of a more perfect union…

Speaker of the House John Boehner via FULL TEXT: Speaker Boehner Addresses the Opening Session of the 113th Congress | Speaker.gov.