Wrong Emsworth. The pledge acts as a tool to remind people that they are Americans, with the rights and responsibilities of Americans.
Why do you need the government to remind people of that? Isn't patriotism much more meaningful when you're patriotic because you want to be? I've gone through the Canadian national anthem multiple times when going to school, and it never really made an impact on me. I've found that patriotism came from examining what your country has done and from finding items to be proud of, not from reciting some pat phrase every single day.
If we want to encourage patriotism, wouldn't it be better to simply show children
why they should be proud, instead of simply leading them through a pledge that quickly becomes meaningless after being repeated so many times, day after day?
Rewrite it to say whatever you want, but removing it just because some on the left don't like patriotism is fairly stupid.
This is a straw man argument. The majority of those who want it removed don't want it removed because they hate patriotism; they want it removed because they feel that the government has no business requiring citizens to recite something over and over, every day. Even if you note that citizens are not
required to say it, they nonetheless are
expected to say it by pretty much anyone present, and peer pressure can be a very powerful thing, especially in a school scenario with children.
If we're so concerned about indoctrinating children at school, lets have a fair version of history get taught, rather than the PC bullsh*t that is standard fare these days. All this blacks can do no wrong, Hitler was the worst person ever, and saint worship of Lincoln and Washington is worse IMO than repeating a ten second pledge every morning.
Two wrongs don't make a right. Given that that issue is completely separate from the issue of pledge, bringing the former up when discussing the pledge is essentially irrelevant. If you can write a bill that addresses this issue, I'm sure you'll find a senator to introduce it.
