We Americans are expected to just say the Pledge of Allegiance. We’re not supposed to question what any portion of it means, and it doesn’t seem to matter that most first-graders don’t even understand the words they’re saying. (Ask any normal seven-year-old to define the words “allegiance”, “republic” or “indivisible”!)
At the risk of appearing un-American, I am about to go through the current version* of the Pledge, and analyze it piece by piece. (As an American citizen, I have the Constitutional right to do this.)
- I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands,
Yes, the flag stands for the USA. So far, so good.
Yes, it’s one nation. No argument there.
Under whose God? The USA is founded on freedom of religion. No American citizen’s choice whether or not to believe in God is tied to our form of government. Our Constitution has no mention of God or of any specific religion. As far as I know, most religions believe that the whole world is under God.
The USA is, unfortunately, very divisible. In the Civil War, the USA could have been split into two separate nations. From the George Washington administration to the present, there have been hate crimes committed by Americans who claim to be patriots. In January of 2021, there was an attempt to violently overturn the results of a presidential election.
- with liberty and justice for all.
About that: wealthy business tycoons with connections to elected officials often get away with white collar crimes scot free. American Police officers murder unarmed people of color and get away with it much too often. People of color also get harsher sentences than white people get for the exact same crimes. Your experience with justice also varies by your income level. If you’re arrested for a crime you didn’t commit, you may have to spend a long time in jail while you’re awaiting trial if you don’t have the money for bail. When you’re eventually tried and acquitted on all charges, you will never be able to get back that time you spent behind bars. “With liberty and justice for all” is a great ideal to which we should aspire, but so far, it has yet to be a reality in the USA.
So, in the interest of accuracy, I think that the Pledge of Allegiance should be recited in a truncated version, as follows:
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation.
*The Pledge has been modified a few times. The original 1892 version of the Pledge said “my flag” instead of “the flag of the United States of America”. The phrase “under God” was added in 1954.