Pledges

A modest proposal: Arrest every Republican in Congress. The charge is sedition for pledging allegiance to Grover Norquist in lieu of his/her country.

I pledge allegiance to the flag and the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

The Pledge was first adapted by Congress in 1942. It has been modified four times since its composition in 1892 by Rev. Frances Bellamy. Don’t tell Boehner and McConnell but Bellamy was that dreaded S word, a Socialist. He was also the cousin of socialist utopian novelist, Edward Bellamy.

The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be recited in 15 seconds. As a socialist, he had initially also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it - knowing that the powers-that-be were against equality for women and African Americans.

The true reason for allegiance to the flag is the Republic for which it stands. A republican form of government is legitimized both by our constitution and popular suffrage. It is a form of representative government unlike a democracy which legislates by direct vote. Yet our upper chamber of Congress is wildly disproportionate with some senators elected by 37 million voters and others by half a million.

Republicans in Congress have not only vowed to vote against taxes which support every modern industrial state but they have subverted their role as legislators by advocating a dismantling of the Agencies of Environmental Protection, Housing and Urban Affairs and Education, tailoring their rhetoric accordingly to their audience. Their mission is to destroy the government they pledge allegiance to.

While singing the anthem and waving their flags they need to be reminded about, one nation, indivisible, a concept they have militated against with their obstructionist vetoes and polarizing stands. As the Democrats move even to the right of what was the middle, the party of privilege stakes out a polarizing position unthinkable even ten years ago. They have regressed to rhetoric of the Antebellum South bent on splitting this indivisible nation.

Justice for all is not on their agenda. They would deny voting rights to the marginalized, block a path toward citizenship for the undocumented who serve in the military, defund agencies which protect us against food and water contamination as well as opposing restraints on Wall St.,same sex marriage and woman’s issues. They rejoice as the economy sputters. Their oath is to an unfettered oligarchy, their allegiance to their corporate patrons to whose drum they march.