Pledge of Allegiance

I remember saying the Pledge of Allegiance as a schoolboy. I didn’t fully understand what some of these concepts referred to: the words “liberty” and “justice”, for example, are very abstract ideas for a small boy. But I had a warm feeling swearing my loyalty to the United States, to God, to liberty and justice.

Now, many years later, I know what liberty and justice are. I have come to see how important -- and rare -- those ideals are.

And I have learned the entire history of the U.S., both good and bad. I have learned of her honorable and selfless actions. I have also learned about her brutally deceitful and murderous actions, including the frequent use by our government of false flag terror.

But even after learning of all of the deceit and murder committed by our government, I still have strong positive feelings for the United States. My forefathers fought and died for liberty. My ancestors struggled to deliver a nation ruled by laws and justice, instead of by the whims of men. My people gave their blood, sweat and tears to throw off the yoke of the British monarchy and to defeat the ambitions of Hitler, Mussolini and Hirohito in World War II.

And so – even after the Iraq war, and the destruction of New Orleans, and the spying and torture scandals, and the vote fraud, and 9/11 and all of the other false flag attacks carried out by by the government over the years - I am willing to pledge my allegiance to the United States of America. Because - as sick and twisted and amoral as she may have become in recent years - I still hold out hope that we may again decide to get back to the great work at hand, the “grand experiment” of self-government and democracy.

Better Forms of Government

Why not support some other form of government, you might ask? Well, no matter what “ism” one tries - socialism, communism, etc. - the government will only be as good or as bad as the people that run it, and their adherence to the ideals upon which it is founded. For example, I personally think any Americans still calling themselves communists are ridiculous, because that whole form of government has been tried and it failed miserably: its leaders were corrupt and brutally repressive (Russia's Stalin and the current Chinese leadership, for example, are some of the worst the world has seen).

And the American system is clearly imperfect, even on paper. For example, I believe that European-style proportional representation would be better than the current winner-take-all system, since it allows third parties to have some seats in Congress, and thus breaks the 2-party monopoly we see in the U.S. I also believe that, when the Founding Fathers adopted the idea of separation of powers from the Iroquois constitution, they forgot some of the most important parts. But the Constitutional system we have in America is basically a good system, and – as shown by the recent shenanigans by those currently in the White House and Congress - any system, no matter how good it looks on paper, can be subverted by bad people.

The U.S. system is as good a starting point as any. And - with good leadership - it has at times been a great system. And it could be again.

So I WILL pledge my allegiance to the ideals of the United States of America.

Commander in Chief

But I will not pledge my allegiance to George W. Bush and his band of truly un-American wanna-be fascists. These people want to trash the Constitution which they are sworn to uphold and defend. These people want to defile the graves of the Founding Fathers in order to destroy our democratic republic, and turn America into a tin-pot dictatorship. Leaders are only as good as the faithfulness with which they follow their nation's common ideals. These people do not pledge their allegiance to America, and so I do not pledge my allegiance to them.

I call on all Americans to pledge their allegiance to the Constitution, but not to the usurpers and pretenders who are hell-bent on destroying it.

I also remind the good and honorable people in the military remember -- especially those in leadership positions and also those who come from military families -- that they have sworn an oath to protect and defend the U.S. from all enemies, foreign and domestic. I pray that they remember that they have sworn their allegiance to the ideals of the Constitutional form of government which their ancestors fought so hard - and, in many cases, made the ultimate sacrifice - to defend. If those who never served a day in the military - the people who got us into the messes in Vietnam and Iraq, who have destroyed the reputation of the U.S., and who have created many more terrorists than they have killed - are calling on you to do something which will fundamentally weaken the security of the United States, such as invading a foreign country which has not attacked the U.S. first, or helping to carry out a false flag attack on Americans, then you must decide whether such act is contrary to your solemn oaths. If you decide that it is (and how can you not?), then you must act appropriately.

Similarly, if you are asked to torture an American citizen solely because he or she is criticizing the current administration or its policies or working for liberty and justice, you must ask yourself whether you wish to be a good little soldier "just following orders", like the Nazi police did.

If you think I'm being overly-dramatic, please note that the newly-passed torture law states:

"Any person subject to this chapter who, in breach of an allegiance or duty to the United States, knowingly and intentionally aids an enemy of the United States, or one of the co-belligerents of the enemy, shall be punished as a military commission under this chapter may direct."

According to a Yale law professor, "The [torture] legislation....authorizes the president to seize American citizens as enemy combatants, even if they have never left the United States. And once thrown into military prison, they cannot expect a trial by their peers or any other of the normal protections of the Bill of Rights."

According to the New York Times, the legislation introduced, "A dangerously broad definition of “illegal enemy combatant” in the bill could subject legal residents of the United States, as well as foreign citizens living in their own countries, to summary arrest and indefinite detention with no hope of appeal. The president could give the power to apply this label to anyone he wanted."

And according to another law school professor, "Anyone who donates money to a charity that turns up on Bush's list of 'terrorist' organizations, or who speaks out against the government's policies could be declared an 'unlawful enemy combatant' and imprisoned indefinitely. That includes American citizens." And even peace protestors are being labelled as "terrorists".

And given that the White House's National Strategy for Combating Terrorism labels "conspiracy theorists" as terrorist recruiters, just about anyone who says that 2 or more people within the Bush administration have done anything wrong could conceivably be labelled an enemy combatant.

And that's all before even discussing the "Homegrown Terrorism" act.

It is time for all of us, civilian and military, to remember that our pledge of allegiance, our sworn oath, is to the Constitution, and not to the Commander in Chief and his compadres. The Commander in Chief is only legitimate to the extent that he follows the Constitution. His orders must be disobeyed to the extent that they are contrary to the Constitution, and certainly if they will undermine the security and defense of the country in the short or long-run. And when the President has breached his allegiance and duty to the United States, when he is acting like a domestic enemy of the Constitution, then he should be given about as much legitimacy as Pol Pot, Idi Amin, or Saddam Hussein would be given if they ran for President of the United States of America.

It is time to remember the pledge of allegiance, and to reflect on its true meaning. And then to act to uphold our pledge and sworn oath, and to save the United States of American from its so-called leaders.