Reciting the Pledge of Allegiance and singing the Star Spangled Banner

could be said to be indoctrinating children into a bombastic and jingoistic life style...

Cutting out the last few verses of This Land is your Land is indoctrination.

has a stronger tradition and a better track record than celebrating individuals. Certainly individuals who at the time hold political power.

then we all can...

If that's subversive...

Maybe I'm used to being indoctrinated?

:shrug:

One nation, finally together, after the Civil War. Of course, it didn't have to say which flag: that was added by Congress in the 1920s, afraid that immigrants might be pledging to the wrong flag. And "I pledge allegiance to my flag" sounds less jingoistic to me than the current version. And it left out the religion until Congress added "under God" in the 1950s, to help fight "Godless Communism." When I pledge, I recite Bellamy's original version.

As to the Anthem, it originally celebrated the persistence of the underdog, under attack by the imperial power: those red-glaring rockets and air-bursting bombs were being poured onto a U.S. fort, and Washington, DC was burned in the same attack. Of course, it has more recently been used to celebrate all too many attacks by the imperial power on other underdogs.

Still, both were fairly innocent at birth, but corrupted in later life.

... if you have to keep saying it on a daily basis. Remember we're talking about a pledge here, not some vague daily promise.

I don't pledge to a flag...