A friend of mine, Marines, posted the, "Pledge of Allegiance" to my face book page and stated that she recited this and the, " Lord's Prayer" everyday, in school. I grew up at a time when this was the normal. We then went from the prayer to a moment of silence. We kept the pledge. I asked my eight year old grandson and they do neither. This is sad! The words to the pledge is something we not only should recite each day, but we should look at the words and bring our country back to actually believing them. I understand the conflict of church and state, however I do not believe the framers of our Constitution meant that nobody would be able to have at least their own thoughts during a moment of silence. What would be the harm?
My main reason for bringing this conversation up is the, "Pledge of Allegiance".
"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."
The original pledge was composed by a minister, Francis Bellamy in 1892. He was, and I find some irony in this, a Christian Socialist. More on this in a minute. It was formally adopted by Congress in 1942. The pledge has been modified four times over the years, the last in 1954 when the phrase, under God, was added. Sorry but I really enjoy the idea that a Socialist, which the right wing is so obsessed over, actually wrote the Pledge. They would set their hair on fire if they stopped long enough to read history. Anyway back to the words. All of the little tweaks that were done over the years, one phrase that has never been altered was, "one nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for all".
Does anyone really think about that part? Indivisible. That means united in purpose for the good of the entire country. What it does not mean is we cannot have a reasonable discussion about differences among us. It means that after the debate we come together and move America forward. We stop the politics and do what is best for the country. Have any of the people, who live on the fringe either way, far right or far left, taken the time to absorb this concept? I do not believe they have. We do not need extremist running the direction of the country. The debates have occurred. The election happened, whether the Republicans like the outcome or not. Now we need to come together and accomplish, govern America. Remain indivisible.
With liberty and justice for all. Is there liberty and justice for all? Is that why forty years after Roe v Wade we have extremist trying to become more invasive in women's rights. Whether it is about a women's rights to chose how her body is used, or the right to equal pay for equal work, is this liberty and justice? Living in a poorer neighborhood and having your children denied quality education and access to better paying jobs, is this liberty and justice for all. Having your voting rights trampled by a party, that instead of changing their ideas, they want to change the system, either by gerrymandering or changing election laws, is this liberty and justice for all? Is allowing an extreme, vocal minority that does not want gun accessibility changed, so we can stem the tide of violent crime and the slaughter of our citizens, liberty and justice for all. Is denying workers the right to organize and thus create better paying jobs, with better benefits represent liberty and justice for all? Of course the answer to all of the above is a resounding, NO. We need to look at these and an ever growing list of offenses by the extremist and remember those words. Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. It needs to be recited every day, in schools and in our hearts. Indivisible with liberty and justice for ALL. These are truly words to run our country by.
