One of the many websites I visit regularly is one called Vote.com. Here, you can vote on different issues, many of which are under consideration by Those Who Make The Rules, and have your votes forwarded to them via email.
An issue a while back was whether we should "Require Schools to Lead Students in the Pledge of Allegiance." On the Pro side of the argument: "Too many young people are raised without a core sense of values. The Pledge of Allegiance shows students the importance of respect for their country. It enhances their feeling of pride in America and teaches them to be better citizens." On the Con side: "The ideals that the pledge symbolizes are more important than the pledge itself. It would be hypocritical for a country that values the principle of 'liberty and justice for all' to push anyone to recite words that they may or may not support."
Naturally, I cast my vote as NO. Not just because I agree with what's said in the Con side of the argument, but because it goes much deeper than that. First of all, rote recitation of a Pledge does not in any way equal patriotism. When I was in school, we recited the Pledge every day. Not once did I, or anyone I knew of, feel "patriotic" in doing so. We didn't care what we were saying. It was just something we did. We might as well have been saying, "I pledge a-blah-blah, to the blah, of the United Blah of Ablah-blah-blah…" That's about as much attention that we paid to it. But we did it because we were expected to, not because we wanted to. Rote recitation of anything removes meaning. It does not instill it. It's like repeating a single word over and over again. Eventually, the word just seems like a silly bunch of letters, devoid of any application to real life.
But my main reason for opposing such an idea is because requiring the Pledge in our public schools is actually against the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.
The Pledge of Allegiance had the phrase "under God" added to it in the fifties. These two words change the Pledge, undeniably, into a prayer. There is no way one can read the words as they now stand and not see the religious aspect of it. President Eisenhower himself knew this, when he said, "From this day forward, the millions of our school children will daily proclaim in every city and town, every village and rural schoolhouse, the dedication of our Nation and our people to the Almighty." Now, since public schools are funded by our government, this results unequivocally in the government promoting religion, which it is expressly forbidden to do.
Funny how this simple fact wasn't even mentioned in the Con argument. Especially because it's the entire basis of the court ruling a year ago that declared the Pledge unconstitutional with the words "under God" in place. It's as though they're ignoring that whole aspect of it, even though it's the most important aspect!
The vote on this one is now closed, and I'm sorry to report that a whopping 88% of visitors voted YES. Such a sad, sad statement. But not one that surprises me in this increasingly religious nation of ours.
