(Host)
Today is Flag Day, and that has inspired educator and commentator
Andrew Barnaby to think about national symbols and pledges of
allegiance.
(Barnaby) I love the American flag in the same way
that I root for American athletes during the Olympics; which is to say, I
can’t help myself. I love that the flag has evolved over time, since
this suggests that our nation itself is an ongoing experiment. Still,
there’s something so perfect about the current version that it’s hard to
imagine ever admitting a 51 st state because that would ruin the
beautiful alternating rows of stars, five rows of six and four rows of
five.
But however much I love our flag, I don’t want to "pledge
allegiance" to it, as in: "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America …" and so on.
The Pledge itself has evolved.
Most people now know that the phrase "under God" was not part of the
original Pledge. It was added in 1954 by an Act of Congress. But even
the first part of the pledge has changed.
Francis Bellamy’s
original of August 1892 began: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the
Republic for which it stands…" In 1924 the National Flag Conference
changed "my Flag, to "the Flag of the United States of America." But
whether it’s the 1892 version, the 1924 version, or the 1954 version,
for me the problem is still the same: it’s the "and."
I don’t
think we should pledge allegiance to the flag and to the Republic for
which it stands. We shouldn’t mistake a symbol – a piece of cloth – for
what it symbolizes – the Republic. We should only pledge allegiance to
the Republic; the flag is simply a reminder of what’s important. So what
is important?
Bellamy thought the important stuff was "one
nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." In 1892, those
words were clearly intended to articulate a vision of a post-Civil War
America. Of course, those concepts had to be enforced by terrible
bloodshed, which is an apt reminder that ideas and realities do not
always coincide.
But while Bellamy’s pledge made a lot of sense
in 1892, it may not reflect what matters most in the "Republic" today.
In our own era of vicious political partisanship, "one nation,
indivisible" simply doesn’t ring true. I’m not sure we can actually say
that anything unites us other than the desire to divide and conquer.
My
kids don’t recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school. But if they did, I
don’t think they could say – or pledge themselves to – anything more
meaningful than the preamble to our Constitution: "We the People, of the
United States , in Order to form a more perfect Union , establish
Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,
promote the general Welfare and secure the Blessings of Liberty to
ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the United States of America."
Our flag, for all its
perfection, is not as important as our hope for a "more perfect Union."
And that’s something we should never forget.