Which part of the Pledge of Allegiance is most important and why?

Which part of the Pledge of Allegiance is most important, and why do you think so?

Bam!!!

the part where you sit back down and FINALLY start taking care of whatever business it is that brought you together to begin with.

the test of time, Liberty and Justice for all would come into play.

"Under God" was not added until 1952, (I think), and that came under the mantle of "McCarthyism", something of a shameful response by cowardly people if you ask me. To bow down to anything McCarthy came up up or to appease the monster is hideous at best.

And this site, if it's accurate, says 1954: http://www.restorethepledge.com/history.html

Thanks.

"...The year was 1954. World War II had ended, but the Cold War was entering into its most intense period. The United States was deeply hostile to communism, and the "Red Scare" pervaded society. Senator Joseph McCarthy spearheaded what is now recognized as one of the most shameful epochs of our history. Citizens afraid to speak. Neighbors constantly eyeing one another. Jobs lost based on hearsay. Persons jailed for espousing unpopular views. The Hollywood blacklist. And, behind it all, the abandonment of the First Amendment.

Within this politically-charged environment, Congress simply ignored the commands of the Constitution and focused on what it perceived as one of the darkest aspects of the communist system: atheism. Casting aside its responsibility to protect all religious views in this country, it honed in on that characteristic of Soviet society. At the urging of the Knights of Columbus, a proselytizing Catholic organization, "under God" was added to the Pledge of Allegiance, with Congress, in its own words, writing:
# At this moment of our history the principles underlying our American Government and the American way of life are under attack by a system whose philosophy is at direct odds with our own. Our American Government is founded on the concept of the individuality and the dignity of the human being. Underlying this concept is the belief that the human person is important because he was created by God and endowed by Him with certain inalienable rights which no civil authority may usurp. The inclusion of God in our pledge therefore would further acknowledge the dependence of our people and our Government upon the moral directions of the Creator. At the same time it would serve to deny the atheistic and materialistic concepts of communism with its attendant subservience of the individual.

H.R. 1693, 83rd Cong., 2nd Sess. (1954) (emphasis added).

Signed into law by President Eisenhower, the Pledge of this Nation - with its Bill of Rights assuring its citizens that the government will never engage in the purveyance of religious dogma – now had God incorporated into its fabric. The following year, "In God we Trust" would be required for all United States coins and currency, and the year after that, the same phrase would become our National Motto."


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Thanks, I have no problem being corrected...:)

Generally, I do a little research on something like this, I was only off by a couple of years...:D

under God from 1st to 2nd grad. The Knights of Columbus were behind it.
The Black Baptist Socialist Preacher who wrote it did not have under God.
And this In God we trust on MONEY is basphemous!

currency being blasphemous, somehing downright wrong about that.

The term was used occasionaly during and since the CW, but it was sanctioned in the 50's...leave it to scared people stirred up by McCarthy and his ilk. GOP fear again, seems like whenever they are in trouble...they just shove the fear card down throats.

FDR once said, "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself", odd how that rings so true, but the ring is heard by so few...:(

Because I think the whole concept of taking an oath to a piece of cloth is pretty ridiculous and having our children do it when they don't even know what the hell they are saying is even more ridiculous.

I mean, what's the purpose of the whole thing? To prove that we are great and wonderful? Do other countries begin their days with a pledge to continued nationalism?

and so is the constitution...

Is that why the traitors squatting in our White House are squatting on the Constitution?

The purpose of it, though, is indoctrination. Other countries do have variants.

Pledging allegiance to anything is just another form of slavery.

However, if the powers that be want that, they need to start delivering on the "liberty and justice for all" part, or they can go fuck themselves.

The President and anyone he choses to be are immune to the laws of the land, in his opnion.

That one word explains the outcome of the Civil War. (Liberty and justice for all is the most important imho)

Interesting that only one person has picked that as of this response, and that could easily just be a smartass. Maybe they responded below and I haven't read their post yet.

The ones I wear each day.
And to the feet,
On which I place them,
Clean and white, nails trimmed short, inscrutable,
With dexterity, they never let me fall.

and then never again in public school.
I think it became reinstated as a "tradition" during "Reagan's America"

A just society needs no fealty oaths.

there are only 2 countries that have a "pledge of allegience"....US and Lebanon.

Just because they don't call it a "pledge of allegiance" doesn't mean they don't have anything serving the same function.

If they're going to push it, they need to make good on all of it.

However, as much as they've been pushing that line, I think it's time they made good on it.

Propaganda and indoctrination are common tools of population control because they are effective.

I quit reciting the pledge when they injected religion into it back in the fifties.

In fact, it was only in the last decade (possibly here on DU) that I found out how recently the "under God" was added.

described therein.

one with god in it??

I remember when it DIDN'T have God in it...the way I originally learned it.

Coming up on the big 6-1. I can't believe it myself.

Anyway, that's not something to feel bad about, it's something to be proud of. I turn 38 this year, and I can't believe I'm still alive, given all of the stupid shit I've done.

It trivializes the giving of a binding oath or "pledge."

A binding pledge cannot be forced or brainwashed. It should come from the mind and heart of the person, not from mandatory daily recitations.

A loyalty oath to a flag is just stupid. I'm sorry. I just can't find a better word to describe it. A flag is a piece of cloth. It is not sacred. It represents a nation, which is also not sacred. The use of a flag, and a pledge as a propaganda piece to promote nationalism is not stupid. It's unethical and harmful. In my opinion.

There's nothing wrong with a flag as a symbol or icon of a group, a region, a government, or anything else. Nothing wrong with it unless a loyalty oath becomes mandatory, or anyone feels pressured to give that oath regardless of personal preference.

Any oath not given freely is not worth the oxygen used to speak it.

I find reading the history of the pledge, and of Frances Bellamy, fascinating. Perhaps that's the most important part of the pledge: its history.

i mean aside from the brainwashing angle. it seemed to me a pledge only needs to be said once to make it binding.

Or maybe not "funny," considering the topic, but interesting, to say the least.

I've had to stand for the pledge every day at work for years. I'm a teacher. It's not a choice. I don't say the words, but I do as I'm directed. I stand and face the flag while other people say them.

Every damned day for years, I'm thinking about the answer to the unspoken question from the glances of those around me:

If you've pledged once, why isn't that enough? Is it automatically assumed that people are too corrupt to honor a loyalty oath, and that they must repeat the oath at least once a day? For those of you who attach meaning to the pledge, aren't you diminishing it by assuming that it means so little it must be renewed constantly?

What is the value of a forced oath? Nothing. A forced loyalty oath means less than the oxygen it took to speak it. A true loyalty oath, when given, only needs to be given once, and it is written in the heart of the giver.

I had to say the pledge every damned day as a student, as well. Either it meant something to me, and was therefore valid after one recital and doesn't need any further reciting, or it didn't, and therefore doesn't matter how many times I say, or don't say, "the pledge."

NONE of it.

...want to pick one of the above.

If you are talking about which phrase, in and of itself, is most important, I'd say the last.

not expecting rote, empty gestures of blind allegiance.

Explain to kids WHY they should believe in this country, don't force them to chant about it.

That, to me, would be the truly patriotic thing to do. And I suspect the founders would agree with me.

I agree with you, too.

That's all I seem to remember. I wonder why?

maybe it is the most important lately because we've been TRYING TO GET IT OUT OF THE PLEDGE!

Maybe they'll come back.

or a flag, or to the republic for which it stands,

But the Pledge is only meaningless if the person saying it believes it is.

;)

Too bad our highest officials don't have any grasp of that concept.

I pledge allegiance to the Knave
of the United States of Dystopia
and to the Apparatus
By which He rules
One nation
Under surveillance
With fear and oppression for all

;)

:)

:D

Better watch how you speak here. You may be purged by the Puritans.




:hi: :hug:

I am SUPPOSED the be on a DU break! :eyes:

I gotta go to the French Quarter this afternoon to collect data... I better go now. :D

lol

:hug:

:hi:

If I wasn't left handed, that may have been how I learned one from the other, too.

lol

Fucking feudal nonsense.

But I don't think the people pushing it believe in it either.

That is how I learned it and how I still say it.

First the fucking fascist divided the pledge,then they divided the American people.

Just another example of how flat out fucked up they are.

It's so decisive.