The Pledge of Allegiance to America

Well, you are already a "subject" at birth, so maybe loyalty is assumed. It takes a little more work to round up a bunch of free people and put them into the corral. But I have no problem pledging my allegiance to the Republic, as long as it remains a Republic, and follows the Constitution of the Republic. The history behind the pledge is interesting, however.

 

I wouldn't count on that happening.

 

LOL Cloudy where on earth did you ever get such a silly notion that you are free :smile Your the same as the rest of us mate, you have just as much freedom as your Goverment allows and no more. Can you just up sticks and leave your country? well not realy at least not without a Goverment document called a pasport. Freedom is relative :whistle:

 

I don't need a passport to leave. I need a passport to enter. The government doesn't care where I go or when I go, and no US government personel check anyone at the border on the way out, only on the way in. But you are correct that liberty is in peril.

 

LOL great isnt it, anywhere in Europe that you are taking a international flight you have to show a passport, yet you say that in the US you can just board a plane out of the country!! All these new rulings came in thanks to American preassure after the twin towers!

Um I sugest that you read this before you try to leave the US LOL

http://travel.state.gov/passport/passport_1738.html

 

I hate to break your bubble comrade, but it's done all the time in these parts. At one time I wasn't real sure if I was Canadian or American. We kind of pick and choose around here.
Oh and Tom, you want to be careful where you repeat that slogan of yours. It could get you tared and feathered in some places in this country. In fact, I would provide the chickens.

Just out of curiosity comrade De Orc, shouldn't that title be 'connisseur'? Not that the one you have is no good, it's just that I noticed it and was trying to figure out what it was intended to portray.

 

I sugest oh great and venrable elder that things have progressed since your day LOL try catching a international flight to europe without goverment documentation, I posted the link :hail: You might be able to travel without a visa that happens quite a bit but passports or Goverment ID's are essential
Nope Commisar is good LOL it winds you guys up Oh and by the way it is not a comunist term exclusivly :kewl:

 

I travel a lot and you wont get on an international flight without a passport I can assure you. It will be check on both sides of your trip.

 

I remember reciting the pledge every moring during grade school in Iowa, then we moved to TX and we only said it on monday and friday, when I went to sixth grade they stopped doing it at all, but at least every class still had a flag in the room to remind us who we are.

 

I live in Texas and said it every day in first period until I graduated.

 

Eventually,U.S. citizens will need to show a passport if they are going to visit Canada,& Canadians will need to show a passport if they are going to visit America.

Aidan.

 

I needed a passport to fly to canada when I went...

 

You def. need a passport for ye olde Canada. So much for leaving the U.S. how and when you want! You can step off the plane without a passport, but you probably won't get much further from there, ha...

 

If Canada did not require a passport, a US citizen crossing the border into Canada would not need one. You can drive into Canada without talking to any American border guards.

 

Hi Dan:
That's an interesting statement. I take it you have a problem with the Constitution of the United States of America? Too restrictive on the power of the president perhaps? Or is the Bill of Rights you have a problem with? Or maybe the 15th amendment, or the 19th?

That sounds a bit like Tom Delay's veiled threat to support the assassination of Supreme Court justices he doesn't like, or Ann Coulter's idea to cow liberals from speaking up by making them fear that they will be killed. Radical conservatives seem to rejoice in threats and the fantasies of taking power through violence. Such threats, even when made in jest (as I assume you were making it) are chilling to the give and take of debate and are hardly worthy of reasoned people.

By the way, I say it sotto voce in public so as not to disturb any of the other people. But at least it's a pledge I can say wholeheartedly without caveat. My pledge is to the IDEALS and not to the piece of cloth. Those ideals and that constitution will survive even if the republic itelf falls.

And yes, I do think our republic is in very deep danger. We are entering an Orwellian period of doublespeak, officially sanctioned arrest and torture, denial of facts, 24 hour surveillance, suspension of civil rights, and bald-faced lies from our own elected officials.

And now you add your support for my personal subjection to the old and painful form of torture in which hot tar is spread over every inch of a person's body and then they are covered with feathers which stick to the tar and become almost impossible to remove. And you probably think that's funny. And all because I pledge my allegiance to the ideals of the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America.

That's pretty bizarre! I've been elsewhere for a while and just decided to stop back... thanks for the welcome back DeOrc, but rather weird to be threatened with torture and personal physical humiliation, even in jest.

 

^^^ I'm sorry, but you can't seriously refute what Tom is getting at here. Well said.

 

As I stated before, we recited the Pledge of Allegiance every day. It didn't turn me into a blind, obedient automaton of the State nor did it sap my free will. I will still vilify our leaders if they desere it (Bill Clinton would be a prime example; in my opinion he's a lying, draft-dodging, perjuring adulterer, but that's beside the point).

The Pledge of Allegiance is exactly that: A pledge of allegiance to the country. I see nothing wrong with it and I see nothing wrong with reciting it.

 

Hoss, we're on the same sheet of music here as long as you add W. Bush and Dick Cheney to that list with Bill Clinton. I also agree with what we're doing as a nation, just not the current band leaders NOW... Today, I spoke casually to the Director of Ft. Meade VA Center, Sturgis, SD and he sees a NATOish group of nations going in SOON to stop Iran from terrorist support activities and Atomic aspirations. This wasn't some chemically wired, disabled Vietnam Era, Staff Sergeant, this old boy wears a star...

 

I see nothing wrong with the pledge...regardless of who is in power...I said it every day as a child and I dont think it harmed me...I do love america and the constitution...and I admire many of our past leaders and founding fathers...

As for passports...america requires them from people entering from other nations, other nations require them from us...simple...you simply cannot travel from nation to nation without one legal.

 

I think this might annoy a few people, but while I fully support the right to recite whatever oath/pledge you like, I personally have never said 'the' pledge since 6th grade, as the middle and high schools I attended never required anyone to recite it (although, interestingly, our high school DID force us to watch this ridiculously inane 'TV news show' from the fine folks as Channel One [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Channel_One_News], complete with ads and commercials. What a learning experience!). I plan on never reciting it again. I don't stand for the anthem, and I don't put my hand over my heart.

Am I glad we have the freedoms we do? You bet.
Am I glad I live in America and not some other country? Definitely.
Would repeating an oath change how I feel already? Heck no.

This country is falling apart from the inside, and outside threats, while a concern, are the least of our worries. Before pledging my allegiance to a flag, I'd rather be a part of the solution and work to make this country a truly great place to live, and that begins with ousting those who are in power now and exercising our rights to participate in this democracy.