This past Monday, June 14th was Flag Day. One of my favorite radio stations has a segment on their morning show where they go to a local elementary school and lead the kids in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. This got me thinking about the content of the Pledge, it’s origins, and why schools say it every morning. My hypothesis was that the Pledge of Allegiance was born during the Cold War, as a daily reminder to keep kids off communism.
I was wrong. Mostly. Here’s what I found.
History of the Pledge of Allegiance
The original Pledge of Allegiance was penned in 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister who also happened to be a socialist. Gasp! Don’t tell Fox News! The original text:
“I pledge allegiance to my flag and the republic for which it stands: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
I think Bellamy considered his little pledge a unifying salute for a country seeing a huge influx of immigrants and less than 30 years removed from civil war. It was first recited publicly on Columbus Day 1892, and has been a staple in schools ever since.
In 1924, some clarifying text was added so pledgers would know exactly which flag they were talking about, and so other countries couldn’t steal our pledge:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands; one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”
And then in 1954, the Pledge we know and love today was finalized with the addition of the words, “Under God.” This move was almost certainly a Cold War-inspired attempt to put ourselves above the godless commies.
My Translation / Commentary
Here’s my beef with the Pledge. It’s indoctrination. Young schoolchildren are made to memorize and recite it daily, long before they have any hope of understanding what the words mean. It’s like baptizing babies; grown-ups think it’s the right thing to do, but the kids really have no idea what’s going on.
I pledge allegiance — I promise to be loyal
to the flag — to a symbolic piece of cloth, but a piece of cloth nonetheless
of the United States of America — phew, I mean I saw the purple mountain’s majesty and the people protesting stem cell research but just wanted to make sure what country we were talking about
and to the republic for which it stands — a country with such severe insecurity issues it makes millions of kids pledge their unquestioning allegiance every day
one nation — it’s cool, nobody’s trying to secede anymore
under God — haha because God only cares about America…see “liberty” below
indivisible – one nation, indivisible, can’t be broken, united, homogeneous, we got it!
with liberty and justice for all — except those who take issue with any part of this pledge
Why not teach our kids to be good citizens of the world instead of trying to brainwash them with outdated xenophobic recitals?
I find some irony in the fact that our country was founded by a revolution from Britain. Maybe it never would have happened had they instituted a mandatory pledge of allegiance in the colonies! The Declaration of Independence is based on this idea of a social contract and the government’s right to rule is granted by the people. The Pledge of Allegiance leaves all that out, substituting Enlightenment thinking with unquestioning loyalty. Not exactly what our founders had mind.
Other Interesting Pledge of Allegiance Facts
Originally Bellamy (the socialist author of the Pledge) intended people to salute the flag with an arm outstretched toward the flag.
Does this pose look familiar? FDR thought so too, so he changed the salute to the less Nazi-esque hand-over-the-heart pose. (Image courtesy of wikipedia.)
Forty-four states require schools to offer the Pledge every day. Of those, 24 states require students to stand and recite it. Liberty and justice for all? Um I believe freedom of speech includes freedom of not-speaking when you don’t want to.
A 10-year old boy made news last year for refusing to stand and recite the pledge until “liberty and justice for all” became reality and homosexuals were granted equal rights. Love me some pre-pubescent activism!
I love America, we have just weird traditions.
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There is no evidence FDR had anything to do with the change to the hand over the heart, although wakipedia has been spreading that myth a long time. During the same period, wakipedia has covered-up the following-
The Pledge of Allegiance was the origin of the Nazi salute (and the swastika -although an ancient symbol- was used to represent crossed S-shapes for “socialism” under the National Socialist German Workers Party).
Francis Bellamy (cousin of author Edward Bellamy) was a socialist in the Nationalism movement and authored the Pledge of Allegiance (1892), the origin of the stiff-armed salute adopted much later by the National Socialist German Workers Party. See the work of the symbologist Dr. Rex Curry.
The early American stiff-armed salute was not an ancient Roman salute. That is a myth debunked by Dr. Curry, who showed that the myth came from the Pledge and from various facts including that Francis Bellamy grew up in Rome, N.Y., not Rome, Italy, and thereafter the Pledge salute was repeated in early films (some showing fictional scenes of ancient Rome). The reasons above and more led to the American stiff-armed salute being picked up later by German socialists and the National Socialist German Workers Party (under the influence of Adolf Hitler and the U.S. citizen and Harvard grad Ernst Hanfstaengl, a confidant of Hitler) and by Italian socialists under Benito Mussolini (who discovered the salute while he gained power as a socialist journalist writing for socialist newspapers, and later became an ally of the National Socialist German Workers Party).
Francis Bellamy never used the term “Roman salute” when describing his pledge’s salute and he was not influenced by Jacques-Louis David’s painting “Oath of the Horatii.” One reason why Francis Bellamy never used the term “Roman salute” in any way is because the concept of the “Roman salute” did not exist when Bellamy wrote his pledge and for decades thereafter.
Francis Bellamy clearly explained that his pledge began with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. In practice, the second gesture was performed palm-down with a stiff-arm when the military salute was merely pointed out at the flag by disinterested children forced to do Bellamy’s programmed chanting daily in government schools. That is how the straight-arm salute developed from Francis Bellamy’s Pledge of Allegiance and its use of the military salute (and how the USA’s Pledge salute led to the Nazi salute).
That the concept of the “Roman salute” did not exist when Bellamy wrote his pledge (and for decades thereafter) also means that the concept of the “Roman salute” did not even exist when Jacques-Louis David lived and painted “Oath of the Horatii” and thus David was NOT thinking of a real or imagined “Roman salute” when he painted the Horatii, nor did David ever use the term “Roman salute.” The Horatii lie (that the painting was the origin of the “Roman salute” myth) first appeared on Wikipedia, deliberately fabricated by a liar to cover-up Dr. Curry’s discovery that the Pledge was the origin of the Nazi salute. In the painting, 3 brothers are reaching for weapons (and the two figures in back are reaching with their left hands). The same liar who created the Horatii lie had, until he was debunked, previously claimed that the stiff-armed salute was an actual ancient Roman salute, and he posted the lie that Roman statues displaying “adlocutio” (a gesture made by a person speaking) showed “ancient Roman salutes.” The newly substituted Horatii lie has been mindlessly repeated by many people (as the adlocutio lie was repeated and still is) because wakipedia glorifies itself as an encyclopedia, even though it is merely an anonymous bulletin board where anyone can post anything.
American national socialists (including Edward Bellamy), in cooperation with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, popularized the use of the Swastika (an ancient symbol) as a modern symbol for socialism long before the symbol was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) and used on its flag.
The Bellamys influenced the National Socialist German Workers Party and its dogma, rituals and symbols (e.g. robotic collective chanting to flags; and the modern use of the swastika as crossed S-letters for “Socialism” under German National Socialism). Similar alphabetical symbolism was used under the NSDAP for the “SS” division, the “SA,” the “NSV,” et cetera and similar symbolism is visible today as the VW logo (the letters “V” and “W” joined for “Volkswagen”).
The Bellamys wanted the government to take over all food, clothing, shelter, goods and services and create an “industrial army” to impose their “military socialism.”
It is the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): ~60 million killed under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; ~50 million under the Peoples’ Republic of China; ~20 million under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
Today, the flag symbolizes authoritarianism in the USA. The historical facts above explain the enormous size and scope of government today, and the USA’s police state, and why it is growing so rapidly. They are reasons for minarchy: massive reductions in government, taxation, spending and socialism.
(Intelligent people would imagine that the first logical question that would arise after a person first viewed the early American “nazi” salute would be: which one came first (German or American) and did one cause the other? It is unfortunate to note that in America that question NEVER seems to arise after an American first views the early American “nazi” salute. It proves how stupid Americans have become and it is another reason to end government schools (socialist schools)).
TMI!!