With the new year, I think it’s time to lead a different kind of attack on the Pledge of Allegiance, a topic on which I’ve already twice written. I know what you’re thinking: “Another atheist is attacking the pledge of allegiance! Bring on the torches and pitchforks!”
The Pledge of Allegiance is a nearly 120 year-old product of a Christian socialist that should not even be recited by any well-meaning American. Everyone knows the pledge:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All.
Currently the pledge is part of the United States Code, namely it is provided in 4 USC 4. It is time for it to be repealed from the United States Code and banished from our society. No American should be pledging allegiance to anything except the Constitution of the United States.
This is the oath taken by commissioned military officers:
I, [name], 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; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.
with the last statement being optional by the person taking the oath, as required by Article VI of the Constitution of the United States. The oath taken by enlisted personnel is similar, also affirming allegiance to the Constitution and not any flag, idol, person, or even State.
Yet we have a pledge of allegiance wherein people pledge their allegiance to an idol (a flag) and the State, not the Constitution. If people are placing their allegiance behind a government and the State, instead of the Constitution, it becomes easier for the government to subvert the Constitution because it loses its strength with the People.
Instead I propose the People take this oath, if you feel the need to do so, as I feel it provides the proper emphasis:
I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, and any Laws enacted properly under its Authority, from all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and Allegiance to the same; that I will assert and defend the Rights of all as protected by the same; that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties and responsibilities as a Citizen of the United States of America. So help me God.
again with that last statement being optional by those who take the oath as there is no religious test to acquire or retain citizenship, contrary to alleged words of former President George H.W. Bush.
I wonder if I might succeed in getting Ron Paul to back this idea.
Again, no person should be declaring or pledging allegiance to the flag or the republic. Every American should be declaring or pledging their allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. We require it for nationalization of immigrants, and so too it should be required of all Citizens, natural born or naturalized.
More: Read my other articles on the Pledge of Allegiance.
