What youths think of the 'pledge'
By Matthew L. Schwartz
There has been a right-wing uproar over a California judge's
ruling on June 26 that the Pledge of Allegiance is
unconstitutional because of the phrase "under god." Yet few are
asking how the ruling affects youth--those who the pledge of
allegiance was, and still is, aimed at.
First printed in the Sept. 8, 1892, issue of "The Youth's
Companion," the pledge was aimed at youth for many reasons, in
what was and is a two-fold manifestation of the bourgeois
ideals of controlling the people.
The pledge aimed to "indoctrinate" or more adequately
brainwash youth. It was also a tool for ostracizing those who
politically dissented from the prevailing views. Putting in the
section "under god" pushed it even further to the right.
Someone analyzing the section of the pledge that reads "and
to the Republic for which it stands" will find that it means "I
pledge my loyalty to the government." Youth do not always feel
loyalty toward the government, and certainly not toward the
current administration. Forcing school children to repeat this
on a daily basis can and does have a damaging effect on their
ability to say no and to protest for changes that they deem
necessary.
In whole, the pledge has gone through four revisions--in
1892, 1923, 1924 and 1954. With each revision came a more
right-wing slant to the original pledge, which read "I pledge
allegiance to my Flag, and to the Republic for which it stands:
one Nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
The phrase "one Nation indivisible" was originally meant to
underscore the defeat of the slavocracy South in its attempt to
secede before the Civil War. Today, however, it conceals the
fact that institutionalized racism in the U.S. leaves African
Americans and other nationally oppressed peoples held like
domestic colonies by the oppressor nation.
It should be noted that the words "under god" were not added
until Flag Day was established on June 14, 1954. According to
then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower, this was to reaffirm "the
transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and
future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those
spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most
powerful resource in peace and war."
What often happens with religion is that it eventually is
used as a way to oppress people. Eisenhower put it right when
he called it "spiritual weapons." Whether used against the
lesbian, gay, bi and transgender communities or immigrants who
believe in different or multiple deities, religion in the
United States has been a consistent way of oppressing the
people, threatening them with eternal damnation and worse.
To find out how youth feel about the ruling, Workers World
asked Ben Mayer, a Long Island student, how he felt about the
pledge ruling. He said, "I'm actually glad that the ruling was
made. As an atheist, I've always felt that the 'under god' part
did go against the First Amendment, as it does encourage people
to believe in the same religion as the people who wrote the
pledge.
"A big problem," continued Mayer, "is the fact that while
the U.S. Bill of Rights does say that the government cannot
establish an official religion, many of the laws and ideals on
which this nation was founded come almost directly from
organized religion. Even though an official religion is not
being established, it does make a more blurry line between
religion and government than most people will admit."
It is becoming apparent that youth, many previously
nonpolitical, will be coming out to support the pledge ruling
and, with that, bring a new life to the movement of young and
vital people who can think for themselves--which is a danger to
the ruling class.
Reprinted from the Aug. 1, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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