Or - An anti- authoritarian movement even Scalia may support
I will include after the squiggle a diary posted yesterday before I participated in a council meeting of Encinitas California. I had been struggling with how to protest our regular pledge of allegiance in the light of the forced illegal ejection of a man in Florida who had refused to stand for the Pledge. I was actually anticipating being arrested, and sort of looking forward to the experience, but it would have been disturbing to say the least.
It turned out that our Mayor allowed me to speak in advance of the Pledge, which is shown on this video. It may not seem like a big deal, but for the first time a Mayor explicitly stated that our city's recitation is "an optional activity." And while only one person in the room chose to sit during the pledge, me, I did so with pride that I was affirming our country's constitutional foundation, without the the fear of being exposed for not being a patriot and for hating our country - which motivates millions of citizens to make a pledge, or pretend to, that is other than their own personal convictions
Changing our county's attitude on this will be a long slog.
I suggest reading the link to my article that is an extensive legal historical analysis of the 1943 West Virginia v. Barnette, including analysis of the dissent of Felix Frankfurter. (it also explains why Antonin Scalia could very well support this #sitforthepledge movement.) Most of us on this site are familiar with this case, but very few of the general public have ever heard of. It would be good if this diary stayed up for a while, as the public, at this time more than ever, has to learn how American patriotism is different from autocratic countries, such as those we were fighting in 1943 and soon may be again in the middle east.
I've set up a twitter hashtag: #SitForThePledge
I don't know how to promote this, or my article about Barnette, and would appreciate any help and/or suggestions how to do this.
Yesterday's diary:
9/8/14 PM
Tonight, at 6PM Pacific time, I plan to take Joseph Richardson's Pledge protest to the next step. For reasons a bit complex, I will be on the dais of a joint meeting of the city council of the City of Encinitas, California that is being held with a citizen's advisory commission of which I'm a member.
The second item on the agenda says simply "Pledge of Allegiance" just like it is on the hundreds of meetings held though out the year. What exactly I will do as a protest is uncertain, as is the reaction of the membership of the two bodies at this meeting. My only choice is to stand and claim the impending agenda item to be an illegal act as defined by the Supreme Court of this country. Wow, for this alone I could face a criminal charge as you will see in the message below the squiggle. After my essay is a list of city ordinances describing their options if one is out of order.
Just so the readers here understand, I'm doing this because I have no choice. I've been engaged in this issue, probably from my days in elementary school in Washington D.C, when not only did we recite the pledge but also said a prayer. Perhaps I would have felt like an outsider for many reasons, but having to recite religious words, prayers and songs, did not help make this little Jewish boy feel he exactly belonged. Having gotten on this committee has made it impossible to simply hold my nose as we are told to do to avoid the stench of where sausages or laws are being produced. Once I got involved, there was no going back, not without an overwhelming sense of being defeated, and worse, something I never had to really face, being a coward. This kind of depression is worse than getting arrested and charged with a crime of disturbing a city meeting.
The challenge to the city below is heavy reading, especially the excerpts from the West Virginia v. Barnette decision that while most here know, few have read the full dissent by Justice Frankfurter. It could be written today by a Justice decrying an activist judiciary. Ironically, as I point out, the current most avid opponent of this, Antonin Scalia, describes the activist Justice, Robert Jackson as his most admired holder of this position.
See letter and document below the break
Squiggle
This was the email I sent this morning as a cover letter to the members of the council:
To Encinitas officials and public
The following, Constitutionality of Encinitas CA Agenda Item, is an expression of the immediacy and legal support for my anticipated action that could become a violation of city ordinances described herein.
I would prefer a one time removal of the agenda item, "Pledge of Allegiance" until a full review by those whom the city chooses to evaluate the merits, with a possibility of reaching a constitutionally valid alternative.
Regards
Al Rodbell
Citizen and Resident of Encinitas
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This link is to an essay that describes my own personal story about the Pledge, but also more importantly includes a position taken by the leader of the Republic Party, Mitt Romny, that negates the argument that recitation of the Pledge is simply meaningless "Ceremonial Deism"
This is not the argument I'm making, yet would lend support to those focusing on the establishment clause aspect of the post 1954 pledge.