Pledge of Allegiance – Engaging Peace

by Kathie MM

The Pledge of Allegiance is not sacrosanct. Within my lifetime, the words “Under God” were added to the Pledge because Congress and the President wanted to differentiate the US from the godless Communists.

Here is my recommendation for an updated Pledge:

I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it’s the guide, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty, justice, and equal rights for all.

Pledging allegiance to a flag is not a good idea. Flags are symbols that are too easily manipulated, used to whip up armies and compel people towards violence.

What Americans should pledge allegiance to is the Constitution—an imperfect but perfectible document created by dedicated freedom fighters desiring a more perfect union and wise enough to provide mechanisms for reforming and ripening the fruit of their labors.

Let’s replace “for which it stands” with “for which it’s the guide”; we should not stand still, mired in dirty politics, but instead move toward the more perfect union envisioned, at least vaguely, by founders of our government; there is much in our evolving Constitution to provide guidance.

“Under God”—a controversial term. Organized religion, like other self-promoting hierarchies, has fed divisiveness and violence over the centuries; however, if there is a God, and only one God, then all believers have faith in the same God, by whatever name they use and however much they want to assume God plays favorites. Plus, reverence for a Higher Power that makes all living things sacred is more life-enhancing than idolizing money and power.

“Liberty and justice for all” have too often been denied, but they, along with equal rights, must still be the goals towards which we pledge our allegiance. A more perfect union will be an indivisible multi-hued union of all living things, interdependent,valued, and mutually sustaining.

How about Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and John Penn, who were among the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence?

Liberty Bell. Photo by Serguey, used under CC Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

What did these patriots say about the ethical principles and human rights that underlay the formation of a new nation?

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.“

For a true patriot, a true conservative, these words provide a mantra or creed to live by. They are an ethical commitment echoed in the final phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance that all Americans are expected to know and honor: “with liberty and justice for all.”

Our early patriots would be ashamed of the hypocrisy of generations of Americans who call themselves conservatives and/or patriots but who have trampled on the rights of others while promoting their own agendas.

Why do I raise these issues now? Because it is almost July 4, the day we celebrate the endorsement by those early patriots of the Declaration of Independence.

We the people of the United States have a great deal of work to do if we are going to honor the task that our forefathers and foremothers set forth: liberty and justice for all.

Our armed forces fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world were not sent there by our leaders for patriotic reasons.

Killing and maiming men, women, and children may appear to those leaders to strengthen the position of the U.S. government in the Middle East and elsewhere; however, such acts of war are more likely to endanger than to ensure the life, liberty, and happiness not only of victims of American aggression but also of Americans themselves.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology