Pledge of Allegiance


[Follow Ups] [Post Followup] [Dodge Power Wagon Forum]


Posted by Paul Cook on Wednesday, March 24, 2004 at 11:58AM :

Today, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments on whether the Pledge of Allegiance can be read in public classrooms. The MSN home page I use for my primary internet browser has a link to a poll by CNBC-TV about removing the phrase, "under God" from the Pledge. Here is the text of my response to their request for opinions.

I was born in 1937 and grew up reciting the original Pledge. The United States prevailed in World War II under the original pledge.

When the disgraceful McCarthy hearings established "Godless" as part of the everyday definition of the "Commie Horde”, we adopted the “Under God” phrase – not in respect of a deity – but in fear of this “wanna be” deity. After all, if one avowed God, he or she could not be accused of being a godless communist by McCarthy and company.

I retired from the US Army with over 20 years of service. I defended my country and its flag. Much of the Cold War involved posturing and “saber rattling” by military forces who engaged the “godless communists” in a training scenario on target ranges where the enemy was a cardboard silhouette target. I was a Counterintelligence Special Agent and was actively engaged with meeting the “real world” communist threat every day of my service. I have no illusions about the communist threat.

Yet, every time I pledge my allegiance, I am reminded that I am not honoring a deity. I am continuing to honor the fearsome anti-communist hysteria that dishonors our proud history. We continually remember Hitler for creating the anti-Semitic hysteria that allowed him to rise to power, but we sweep the McCarthy era under the carpet because it was not a proud part of our history.

When I discuss this with friends, some feel that I am being blasphemous. These are the same people who have no sense of the history of “Under God” and how it came to be part of the pledge. Everyone I have met who opposes restoring the Pledge to its original form believes it was always in its present form.

I do not want to be an elitist but I have to say that only those who are ignorant of the history of this modification would oppose eliminating this phrase. I love my country. I would hope to see this last remnant of the McCarthy era also swept under the carpet.

How long must we continue to pay tribute to Senator Joseph McCarthy and his goal to have our currency say, “In Joe we trust”?





Follow Ups:



Post a Followup

Name:
E-Mail:
Subject:
Message:
Optional Link
URL:
Title:
Optional Image Link
URL:


This board is powered by the Mr. Fong Device from Cyberarmy.com