ShareThisWhen does the Pledge of Allegiance, our venerable assertion of loyalty to the flag, become too much of a good thing?
Here in Texas, public school students declare their allegiance to the United States flag every morning, and then, in a second pledge, affirm their commitment to the Texas state flag. Many football games begin with the Pledge, as well, right after the national anthem.
Our local city council and school board open their meetings with the Pledge.
And the members of the governing board at the college where I work recite the Pledge before their meetings, as well as before meetings of their subcommittees, which means that on some days they might say the Pledge four or five times.
All in all, this is a lot of pledging.
A ritual that occupies this much attention deserves some scrutiny, and a good place to start is Richard J. Ellis's "To the Flag,'' a comprehensive history of the Pledge. As it turns out, the Pledge doesn't date to the birth of our republic, but to 1892. Some of the motivation behind its development was commercial: the chief patron of the "flag in every school" movement was a monthly magazine that, conveniently, sold flags and flag accessories.
But clearly the man behind the Pledge, a Christian socialist named Francis Bellamy, was largely motivated by a certain kind of patriotism. The late 19th century was a period of considerable anxiety in America over an explosion of immigration, not just from traditional northern European sources, but from southern and eastern Europe, as well, including many immigrants that nativists like Bellamy considered undesirables, particularly Catholics and Jews.
Serious efforts were made to keep them out entirely, but failing that, Bellamy saw the Pledge as one way to ground the children of immigrants in American patriotism.
But the history of the Pledge, as described by Ellis, is a story of conflict between Americans who had their reasons for resisting the regular recitation of the Pledge and Americans who readily accepted the community ritual.
Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, objected to being required to pledge their allegiance to any higher power other than God. And during the years leading up to World War II, other citizens objected to the ominous similarity between the extended-arm Pledge salute, as practiced at the time, and the infamous Hitlerian salute that was increasingly popular at Nazi rallies across Germany.
In ironic contrast to early Pledge resistors, after 1954 the principal objectors were concerned about church/state separation, stumbling over the addition of the phrase "under God" in response to the burgeoning threat of atheistic communism.
In short, the Pledge has been a catalyst for considerable strife and division in our country. And although the Supreme Court ruled clearly in 1943 that no one can be compelled to recite the Pledge, Americans have lost their jobs and been assaulted, and children have been expelled from school and taken away from their parents for obeying the dictates of their consciences.
The Pledge may have its virtues, but its unrelenting rote recitation has two dangers. It can become meaningless through repetition. Or it can become a coercive loyalty test that all have to pass in order to be Americans in good standing. Soon we're glancing around to see who failed to put his hand over his heart during the Pledge or who's not wearing a flag pin. Before long, we're making un-American judgments about other people's patriotism and loyalty on the basis of such superficial signs.
Perhaps I'm overstating the case. But the next time you find yourself in a crowd rising as one to recite its loyalty to the flag, remain seated and contemplate the freedom and American independence embodied in a phrase like "with liberty and justice for all." Do your fellow citizens notice? And if you're a member of the school board or city council, what are your chances of being re-elected?
(John M. Crisp teaches in the English Department at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. E-mail him at jcrisp(at)delmar.edu.)
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COLUMN
Jehovah's Witnesses Flag salute
Jehovahs Witnesses and the flag salute.
I was born into the Jehovahs Witnesses in 1957.I was the good little JW boy who got beaten up in the school yard for not saluting the flag and remaining seated for the Star Spangled Banner as demanded by my Jehovahs Witnesses leaders.
This was the better dead than red era of the 1960’s, I suffered much,only to learn that the Watchtower corporation is just another made up man-made religion and not the true one.
Kids suffer because of arbitrary rules by Jehovahs Witnesses leaders,senile old men squatting in their insulated ivory tower.
I now proudly fly the Flag at my home
Jehovahs Witnesses and freedom of speech.
Who are Jehovahs Witnesses?
They will extol and preach "God's Kingdom" and this sounds attractive,what they hide from you is their blasphemous Watchtower cult version that Jesus has already had his second coming in 1914 and is working "invisibly" through them.
They have won 37 of their 46 U.S. Supreme Court cases, assuring us all of freedom of speech and assembly and equal protection under the law.
The sad irony is that the Watchtower Society *daily* abuses the human rights of thousands of its members. It denies current members the right of free speech by forbidding them to speak to former members, even close family members.
And it denies former members their right of freedom of worship by refusing to allow them to leave the religion with dignity, should they come to disagree with Watchtower's practices or doctrines.
The religion of Jehovah's Witnesses is a dangerous cult that controls every aspect of its members' lives.
Are they knocking on your door?
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Danny Haszard http://www.dannyhaszard.com
Sit for the Pledge
Your points are well taken, Mr. Crisp. I do not like the words “under God” in the Pledge, but were that taken out, I would still refuse to recite it. Only falsehoods require daily or weekly repetition to be believed, while truths never do. No one pledges their allegiance to the sphericity of the Earth, the germ theory of disease, or the Pythagorean theorem. Since I don’t doubt my own affection for this country and its institutions, I see no reason to repeat words to this effect each week. If its function is to be a signal to others of my sentiment, what could possibly be of less value? Nothing is more easily feigned than patriotism, and for this reason it is so often, as Samuel Johnson said, “the last refuge of scoundrels.” Pledges of allegiance and loyalty oaths are ubiquitous features of totalitarian regimes, but they are out-of-place in a free country. The vision of the America I am enamored of is one in which freedom of conscience and freedom of speech trump outdated conventions.
Pledge of Allegiance
Where my loyalty or allegiance lies is my business, and no recitation will cause me to think otherwise. No public domain or authority, be it a public event or school classroom, has any right to expect me to demean myself by wearing some other authors "heart" on my sleeve. If I do choose to express my allegiances I'll do it in a form of my choosing. I for one find it bizarre to be expected to salute a flag and offer my allegiance to it. It's a Symbol, people. This sort of Nationalistic Symbolism smacks of National Socialism in my mind's eye. And by adding "Under God" to a bizarre oath only reinforces my stance, as "The Pledge" not only chooses my loyalties, but my dogmatic superstitions.
The "republic for which it stands" has not always supported the Ideals of "Liberty and Justice for ALL."
However, If I were compelled to to express my Allegiance it would be to the Ideals expressed in the Bill of Rights and to "Liberty and Justice for ALL," not to some flag or it's country of origin.