This may be a bit quick, but it's a topic that has been on my mind for some time now. Look, it's not that I think the content of the pledge of allegiance is so wrong, but the public ritual demands some scrutiny during these times in the Republic. So let's have some discussion.
First, I'd just like the remind everyone that before WWII it wasn't weird for people to outstretch their hands toward the flag during the pledge. This practice was later discouraged because it echoed the Nazi salute. That my friends should have been a clue.
Looking back at all those days in school, mindlessly reciting something that I never understood. I don't want that kind of indoctrination for anyone. While this practice may seem a bit benign to us, I'm certain that in other parts of the world...especially places where our foreign policy is a bit neanderthalish (read, just about everywhere), it probably looks pretty crazy. I think we have some soul-searching to do with respect to what the pledge is all about and why we choose to have our youth say it.
Perhaps, the pledge has it's place, but not every day, with hands on our hearts, and a twinkle in our eyes. Especially now, our government, even our supposed democratic leadership, are leaving us high and dry. Do you want your kids to pledge allegiance to the corporatist machine of Bush and Cheney? I don't. I want the young people of this country to commit to change, a way forward from the mess our dear entrusted leaders have made.
I really hope people want to talk about this, hopefully the payoff from this diary will come in the comments.
update-----
Ok, I'll confess. I moved to the states with my family (mom, dad, and sis), in 1991. I was 8. My folks lived through the Soviet occupation of Slovakia. They've lived under socialism which was a lifestyle full of the kinds of unthinking indoctrination tactics you'd expect. Their insight throughout the years has most likely made very quick to spot these kinds of games with "patriotism". Public school in a small Louisiana town was probably also a bit of a catalyst for my political viewpoints, which formed early on due to being the weird east bloc kid.