On knees, anthems and pledges
I've learned a lot in researching the flag, the anthem and the pledge. Did you know that the man who made it his mission to spread the daily pledge of allegiance to school, and wrote the canonical version, was a minister? He was also a leftist communist. He was fired from his pulpit for preaching about the evils of capitalism.
Francis Bellamy championed the rights of working people and the equal distribution of economic resources, which he believed was inherent in the teachings of Jesus. He was staunchly anti-capitalism and believed in expanding public services to protect those things from the evils of privatization. When you pledge, you are pledging what a communist wants you to pledge. Suck on that, right wing!
Oh wait... Francis Bellamy was also a xenophobic bigot that thought that universal suffrage would surely lead to the destruction of the country. Bellamy noted that "The leaders of the negroes have been unendurable, more than the negro voters themselves." He also felt that "The native Mexican works only that he may ... live for a month on the rewards of a week's work." Don't get him started on women voters.
So I guess this part is what the conservatives likes about the guy then?
Look, let's assume two things here. Lets assume that the pledge is a contractual obligation between two entities, and lets assume we can rip the "under god" part out. That is unconstitutional anyways and would be a violation of my civil rights if I was forced to say it. What are the last words of the Pledge of Allegiance?
With LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL.
Not for some. Not for whites. Not for the wealthy.
For ALL.
If you are caught on camera murdering my unarmed, prone, peaceful son. And that footage was played to a jury. And they acquitted you of any wrongdoing, I would know that I found no JUSTICE in this land, and my son had no LIBERTY. And that the contract in the pledge was voided by the system I was pledging too.
Until there is actual LIBERTY and real JUSTICE for people of ALL arbitrary sorting tags, then what the fuck are you pledging for? Why are you committing to the defense of a symbol that will not honor that defense back to your neighbor? Or you?
Francis Bellamy championed the rights of working people and the equal distribution of economic resources, which he believed was inherent in the teachings of Jesus. He was staunchly anti-capitalism and believed in expanding public services to protect those things from the evils of privatization. When you pledge, you are pledging what a communist wants you to pledge. Suck on that, right wing!
Oh wait... Francis Bellamy was also a xenophobic bigot that thought that universal suffrage would surely lead to the destruction of the country. Bellamy noted that "The leaders of the negroes have been unendurable, more than the negro voters themselves." He also felt that "The native Mexican works only that he may ... live for a month on the rewards of a week's work." Don't get him started on women voters.
So I guess this part is what the conservatives likes about the guy then?
Look, let's assume two things here. Lets assume that the pledge is a contractual obligation between two entities, and lets assume we can rip the "under god" part out. That is unconstitutional anyways and would be a violation of my civil rights if I was forced to say it. What are the last words of the Pledge of Allegiance?
With LIBERTY and JUSTICE for ALL.
Not for some. Not for whites. Not for the wealthy.
For ALL.
If you are caught on camera murdering my unarmed, prone, peaceful son. And that footage was played to a jury. And they acquitted you of any wrongdoing, I would know that I found no JUSTICE in this land, and my son had no LIBERTY. And that the contract in the pledge was voided by the system I was pledging too.
Until there is actual LIBERTY and real JUSTICE for people of ALL arbitrary sorting tags, then what the fuck are you pledging for? Why are you committing to the defense of a symbol that will not honor that defense back to your neighbor? Or you?