The Pledge of Allegiance was written in 1892 by Francis Bellamy (1855-1931), a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy (1850-1898). Harris’ original “Pledge of Allegiance” was published in the September 8th issue of the popular children’s magazine The Youth’s Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus‘s discovery of America. Bellamy’s original Pledge read, “I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
While I find it ironic that the hard core hypocrites of the Right Wing who spew on about American patriotism and freedom hold a statement written by a socialist so close to their heart; I find it even more ironic and hypocritical that these same self-proclaimed patriots are the very people who don’t follow a single ideal put forth by the allegiance, especially the second half of it.
First of all, the Right Wingers don’t seem to understand the definition of “republic”. Among the definitions of the word is one which states that a republic is a group of people working as equals in the same sphere or field. I don’t recall any Right Winger that I know of ever considering themselves equal to minorities, non-Christians, members of the LGBT community, etc. They seem to feel they are superior to them. Side note: everyone considered equal…isn’t that a socialist concept?
Secondly, … “one nation indivisible…” , I’ve never seen a group of people like the Right Wingers fight so hard to keep things divided in my life; class division, gender division, race, ethnicity, culture, religion…name it, it’s there. If you aren’t Caucasian, Christian, and male…you’re not fit to be in this country. By the way…I’ve noticed the Right Wingers are so misogynistic, one would have to wonder if they aren’t hiding deep in the closet. They are as bad as Islamic fundamentalists who think women are worth less than camels.
Now, let’s visit the last words, “…with liberty and justice for all.” I really don’t need to state much here, but I will go ahead and point out a few tidbits. Why do we still need affirmative action laws in place? Because we still have people out there who will not hire someone if they are a different race than they are. Never mind if the applicant is the best qualified…their skin and hair color isn’t right. Of course, I would be remiss is I didn’t mention the fact that homosexual patriots, “gaytriots”, as I like to say, are not allowed to serve openly in our armed forces. Plus, hardworking, tax-paying, law abiding homosexual citizens do not have the civil rights they are supposed to be guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States of America.
It is sad that at different periods in our nation’s history, dictatorial elements of our government and society have felt the need to force our citizens to pledge to what the aforementioned elements felt like. They are no better than the heinous agents of the Church of Rome, who globally forced people to bow to their gold laden hypocrisy by means of rape, torture, theft, rewriting religious edicts, twisting beliefs, reassigning the original pagan holy days as their holy days, coercion,…the list goes on.
By adding “God” to the pledge, we destroyed the meaning of religious freedom. Freedom of religion means not only the freedom to worship as the individual sees fit for their own self; it also means the freedom to not worship. In my opinion, forcing someone to pledge their allegiance to the Christian god when they are not Christian, or even religious for that matter, is a violation of their constitutional rights. When I say someone is forced to recite the pledge, I’m referring to the manner in which someone receives admonishment, even physical and verbal assault, for not saying it. There was a time when it was the law in our nation that children in schools had to say it. While I believe that American children need to be taught the importance of patriotism and good citizenship, they also need to be taught the importance of maintaining the civil rights and freedoms that our constitution is supposed to guarantee.
Whenever I recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I quietly pledge in this manner, “I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag and the Republic for which it’s supposed to stand, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
After all, if the big boys can change it to suit their needs, why can’t I?
