Yesterday I asked my five year old son what he did in school. He replied that all of the kids from all of the classes got together in the auditorium and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. And then he repeated it to me: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America" "Yeah I know it." I said. "And to the republic for which it stands..." me: "ugh" "One nation under god, indivisible (he actually pronounced this word pretty well), with liberty and justice for all."
I tried to think of something to say. I hate that they make little kids recite a pledge to a flag of a country and that pledge has a lot of misinformation in it. My son, or any five year old, doesn't know an better and in fact doesn't know what most of those words mean. It might as well be a fun song that he's just singing along to with the group. So I said to my son, "I don't like that." "Well, Mrs. So-and-so told us to say it." He said.
I'm sure for those of you indoctrinated in our public school system, my exception to reciting the pledge may seem like a disconnection. Here then is my reasoning for why I hate the Pledge of Allegiance.
First a little history: The pledge was written, mostly, by a Baptist/socialst minister named Francis Bellamy in 1892. In the pledge he is expressing the ideals of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, who wrote utopian socialst novels in which the government runs the economy.
In 1954, Congress, after being solicited by the the Knights of Columbus added the words "under god" and therefore made the oath a pledge to the State and a public prayer.
Bellamy, in his own words:
"The true reason for allegiance to the Flag is the 'republic for which it stands.' ...And what does that vast thing, the Republic mean? It is the concise political word for the Nation - the One Nation which the Civil War was fought to prove. To make that One Nation idea clear, we must specify that it is indivisible, as Lincoln used to repeat in his great speeches."
This is the #1 reason I hate the pledge. The nation isn't "indivisible". It is very divisible. The Constitution is an agreement between the states. Inherent in any agreement is the ability to break the agreement or to nullify certain actions undertaken by the whole which the contractees deem outside the bounds of the original agreement. This has been tried a couple of times in the history of the U.S. The most famous time came during the War Between the States. Lincoln (a despotic tyrant in my book) violated the Constitution repeatedly in order to keep the Southern States against their will in the union. The reason the nation became "indivisible" was by force, violence and bloodshed. This is not an ideal I believe five year olds should be chanting.
Secondly I hate that this is a pledge of allegiance to the State. And by State here I mean not the country, which is the place where we physically live, but the government. The government is not us. The opposite of this pledge would read: "I pledge allegiance to myself, to my inherent rights and I dedicate myself to knowing what those rights are and I will defend them against all who try to take them away."
Thirdly, yes, I hate that this pledge mentions god. "God" is not mentioned in my house because I do not believe in telling my son lies that promote errors. Santa Claus is a benign (and fun) lie but god is not. Some people dedicate their entire lives and money to that lie. I hate that my son is being forced to chant the word.
So what can I do about it? Sadly, not a lot. They've got me by the short and curlies. School is free and the private option is too expensive. I could homeschool him but my son needs interaction with other kids. I could complain to the school but I am realistic about their potential reactions. I could file a complaint and let them know how I feel which would give me about a 2% chance of having an effect but at least they'd know and they'd be a little more aware, more so than if I don't say anything. I'm sure they don't hear this complaint too often and they probably don't even think about what they are doing so maybe, just maybe they'll think twice about it as they force the little ones to chant it. I'm not holding my breath though.
