THOUGHTS ON OUR FLAG AND THE PLEDGE
When we say the Pledge of Allegiance
do we really understand what we are saying?
“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.”
When we consider what the pledge
says phrase by phrase its true meaning becomes very clear. “I pledge allegiance
to the flag of the United States of America” the flag is a symbol of our
country. We all have symbols that we hold dear it may be dog-tags worn by a
veteran, by a surviving spouse or child. It may be a football jersey hung in a
closet as reminder of glory days in high school or college. It may be that
special card given by mom or dad. Whatever it is be we all have symbols that
mean something to us, that are important to us.
There are some people today who show
disrespect for our flag, who refuse to stand when the National Anthem is
played. Or who will burn our flag in protest. There are those who don’t want to
say the Pledge of Allegiance to our flag.
Perhaps some feel disenfranchised because of the way their forebears
were treated or because their political ideology.
Before I go any farther
consider. Are any of us perfect? Do any
of us harbor hate of any kind? For any group? If you are on the left, do you
hate the right? If you’re a Democrat you hate Republicans? If you are
conservative do you hate liberals? If you’re a Republican do you hate
Democrats? Have any of us ever made a mistake? Have any of us ever done
something wrong and knew it was wrong when we did it? I know I have.
Now consider. If we all make
mistakes. If we have all have harbored hatred at some time in our life. If we
have all done something wrong even when we knew it was wrong. How then can any
of us expect our country to be any different than we are? If we the people of
the United States of America are imperfect how in the world can we expect
anyone in our government to be perfect? And yet we do. We take umbrage with all
of the police when less than 1% act inappropriately and yet we ourselves are
imperfect. If we judged groups of people by that standard we would be the worst
kind of bigot. And yet there are many who judge all by the act of a very few.
When our founding fathers wrote the
Declaration of Independence they wrote in part:
“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 among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
Our
founding fathers were imperfect men just like you and I are imperfect, but they
were looking for something better. Many of them were slave owners and yet they
could write those words while they held people in bondage. Slavery was
commonplace not just in America but around the world. Sadly, it still is
commonplace in many parts of the world and yes in Africa. Even freed slaves in
the United States owned slaves, that is a matter of record that we just don’t
like to talk about. And yet it happened. Why? Because we are imperfect people
and because we are imperfect people we sometimes do horrible, terrible things
to one another.
Yet, America has always had citizens
with the will to do good. There were abolitionist movements long before the
Civil War. Many, especially in the north, knew that slavery was a horrible
abomination and they did what they could to end it. From the underground
railroad to the Congress who enacted laws limiting first the importation of
slaves and then the states in which slaves could be held, moral, decent people
took a stand. Were their mistakes? Yes. But imperfect people act imperfectly.
The Civil War may not have initially
started to the abolish of slavery, but it was the end result. But, even with
the end of the Civil War and the end of slavery people of color were not
allowed equal rights. Racism was institutionalized and was rampant. It was
wrong and many white people as well as African-Americans joined in the civil
rights movement to end Jim Crowism.
Institutionalized racism ended with the passage of the Civil Rights Act
in the early 60s and other pieces of legislation that followed on that great
act. But, even though institutionalized racism was ended by acts of Congress we
still have racism and bigotry in America even today. That bigotry and racism is
in the hardest place to change, our hearts.
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of
the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands”
We are not a democracy. We are
constitutional, representative republic. If we were democracy, then the
majority would rule. In a democracy where the majority rules the rights of the
minority can be severely limited or even denied. But we are a constitutional
republic. The Constitution protects our rights. Our Bill of Rights guarantees
freedom of religion, speech, freedom of the press, assembly and to petition the
government for a redress of grievances. We are also guaranteed the right to
keep and bear arms. The first 10 amendments to our Constitution are our Bill of
Rights. They cannot be taken away however unpopular they may seem at any given
time these rights are guaranteed by our Constitution and as long as that
Constitution stands we the people are protected. Voltaire once said, “I may not
agree with what you say but I will defend to the death your right to say.” In
this country we may say whatever we like no matter how vile and disgusting others
may think our speech may be, our freedom of speech is protected. The
unpopularity of our speech doesn’t end our freedom of speech.
The Preamble to our Constitution
begins with:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a
more perfect Union,”
I believe our founding fathers realized that no government could
never be perfect. In fact, there was much discussion about that as our
Constitution was being drafted. But they wanted a more perfect union a more
perfect government and so our founding fathers developed and wrote the
Constitution. They wrote it realizing
that we were a flawed nation. Yet, their wisdom gave us this wonderful document
that protects our rights. That guarantees that no matter how unpopular a matter
of speech, religion, assembly, or anything else may be our rights to do those
very things that the majority may not like are still guarantee in writing by
our Constitution.
The Pledge of Allegiance ends with:
“One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and
justice for all”
Many people don’t understand and
don’t like, “one nation under God” what they don’t understand is that what man
can give man can take away but what a higher power gives only that higher power
can take away. In the Declaration of Independence and in the Pledge of
Allegiance we place our rights as something received from a higher power. Therefore,
those rights cannot be taken from us by any government.
“Indivisible” we are one nation not
many small nations but one nation with one Constitution that supersedes every
state Constitution and every state law. States cannot pass laws that are in
conflict with our constitution.
“With
liberty and justice for all”
The Pledge of Allegiance ends with
these very strong words, “with liberty and justice for all.” Clearly a case can
be made that we are not there yet but since our becoming a nation we have
strived for that ideal. We have struggled to reach that golden shore where
there truly there is liberty and justice for everyone.
When our flag is disrespected what
it stands for is also disrespected. When someone refuses to say the Pledge of
Allegiance they say basically that they do not agree with what this country
stands for, with what this country is trying to be. Nor do they believe in for
the ideals of liberty and justice for all.
But there’s more. Our flag drapes
the coffin of all those who die serving this country, our country. That flag is
taken off the coffin before it is lowered into the ground. It is folded. Then
presented to the family. When you disrespect the flag you disrespect every
spouse, child, parent and friend who lost a loved one serving these United
States of America. When you disrespect the flag, you disrespect all those who
have given the last full measure. When you disrespect the flag, you disrespect
those who lost arms and legs and eyesight and even their sanity serving this
land of ours. Before you take a knee or
burn or in other ways disrespect think of what you are disrespecting. I may not
agree with what you do regarding our flag and our National Anthem, but I will
defend to the death your right to do it because our constitution guarantees you
that right. I don’t however have to otherwise support your actions with my
person or money. Thank You.
