2002 Column Archives
Pledge Untrue
By John Sammon
Jul 1, 2002, 15:39

I wasn’t going to do a piece about the Pledge of Allegiance, because everybody else is. In fact, I laughed at it. But upon reflection, I have to.

It’s too good to be true.

This is a unique time to be an American. If you have any sense of idealism, you have to watch helplessly as everything you ever held dear is either mocked, or overturned. It must be how the Indians felt when they were forced on reservations and told their customs and lifestyle were wrong.

Back to the pledge. As you know, the part of the Pledge of Allegiance that says “under God,” was declared by a San Francisco judge to be unconstitutional because it endorses religion, violating the concept of separation between church and state.

However, the issue is not constitutionality. No, not at all. The pledge should be thrown out because it’s not true.

It’s not true. It’s inaccurate.

“To the republic, for which it stands?”

Give me a break! It’s not a republic anymore. Technically speaking, it had been a republic. But it’s not a republic in the minds of the populace today. The only ones who still call it a republic are disgruntled right-wing militia nuts, and derided curmudgeons like me.

They call it a democracy today, in other words, rule by the mob.

“One nation, under God?”

This isn’t one nation. This is hundreds of nations. What about diversity? You liberals out there love diversity. Myong Tribesmen from the hills of Cambodia living in California want their native language put on election ballots, and want you to pay for it. At Fourth of July picnics, the Mexican flag is flown as much as the American.

I saw a Korean immigrant guy swaggering around a Denny’s Restaurant bragging about how he had this country in his hip pocket. I wanted to punch his mouth.

There are no borders anymore.

One nation? Are you crazy?

“Under God?”

Most Americans think they’re over God, not under. Baseball players, guys who can barely spell their own names, make more in salary than the total GNP of some small African countries. The world is my private oyster, as long as I have a cell phone and drive a BMW (for you atheists out there, you better hope there’s a God, unless you want to wind up as tree moss).

“Indivisible?” You gotta be joking.

This country has been divisible a hundred ways. We’re no longer Americans. We’re feminists, gays, skinheads, punkers, dopers, born-agains, fundamentalist Christians, Neo Nazis, Latinos, yuppies. Cars have bumper stickers reading, “the sock puppet (George Bush) is not my president.”

Indivisible?

School children should not be made to recite in classroom a ditty that a substantial number of their parents refuse to live up to and in fact despise.

The American Pledge of Allegiance:
Wining a Lawsuit Against the Pledge of Allegiance
For God's Sake, Ruling on Pledge is Pro-Inclusion
The Pledge of Allegiance - A Short History