Can We Drop the Pledge Now?

School children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Image credit: Library of Congress via Wikimedia Commons.

I never liked the Pledge of Allegiance. I like it even less with every passing day.

Some low-brow, pseudo-patriotic pricks will already be taking offense, because they're too stupid to know the difference between empty words and meaningful actions. They're too stupid to understand that true patriotism is defined by how you live your life, not by the words you chant.

The Pledge is the verbal equivalent of pinning an American flag pin on your lapel. Saying the Pledge or wearing a flag pin says only that you want other people to think you're patriotic. If you saw someone wearing a lapel pin that says "I'm honest", would you think that person is really honest? I wouldn't. I'd suspect that he's going to try to sell me some bullshit.

I'm not opposed to the process of enculturating children. Even though this is a free nation where you can make up your own mind about what you believe, teaching children things like basic citizenship gives them a cultural foundation. You teach them the ways of our tribe, and let them refine their opinions as they learn and grow. That's pretty standard practice for modern civilization.

But the Pledge doesn't teach anything about citizenship.

I'm guessing here, but I guess just about every American citizen has had to say the Pledge at one time or another in their life. Most of us have had to say it many times. Have you noticed any effect from this constant repetition?

We still have corrupt politicians who will sell out America's interests to get money from multinational corporations. Every one of them has said the Pledge, but it didn't work on them. (Neither did their flag pins.)

I'm pretty sure that Cliven Bundy and his militia-girls all said the Pledge at one time or another, but he doesn't even believe in the Republic he pledged allegiance to. Apparently his supporters, like Sean Hannity, don't believe in that Republic either, or they wouldn't have supported Bundy. The Pledge didn't work on these people.

There are people in American who call for one state or another to secede (or be thrown out). Those people all pledged their allegiance to an "indivisible" nation, but their pledge didn't work.

But my real gripe with the Pledge these days is the "liberty and justice for all" clause. It's a lie. We don't have liberty and justice for all in this country. We have different levels of justice for poor people and rich people, different levels for whites and blacks, different levels for people who use alcohol to get inebriated and those who use marijuana.

We have different levels of justice for people like Michelle Manhart and people like Freddie Gray.

Left: Michelle Manhart, gentle arrest, followed by television appearances. Right: Freddie Gray, broken spine during arrest, followed by death. Not pictured: Justice.

The Pledge is a form of self-deception, a chant that says everything is fine, even though things have never been fine in this nation, and probably never will be. We've been trying to perfect this union from its beginning. Building and maintaining a happy, prosperous nation takes hard work. It takes constant vigilance. It requires that we see the world with open eyes and rational minds. It requires an understanding of and dedication to the principles underlying the American model. The Pledge of Allegiance is none of these things. It's a prop for people who care more about appearance than substance, and such people are useless when there's real work to be done.

Let's drop the Pledge from the American experience, from every school, every meeting, every government function. Instead of empty words that do nothing, let's concentrate on meaningful actions that actually help bring American closer to fulfilling its promise, it's capability to truly be the greatest nation on Earth.