WORDS HAVE MEANING

It is very important to understand 
the precise MEANING of the words we use
-- particularly when we MEAN what we say.

Here are some words that I learned, many years ago:

	"I pledge allegience
	to the flag
	of the United States of America,
	AND to the Republic for which it stands,
	....

That's the beginning of the words I learned.

I accepted that pledge, willingly,
and have reaffirmed it many times since then.

Obviously, I have had many reasons to criticize
various actions taken by the government
of this nation, of this republic,
and some of the people elected or appointed
to positions of trust.

----

I think teachers were required by state law
to teach those words, and to have a daily ceremony
where children recited them.
(I don't think any children were compelled by law to recite the words 
In fact, that MUST be something voluntary in any nation that deserves 
to call itself a republic.  But I digress.  I don't recall any dissenters,
when  was in Elementary School.)

I accepted that pledge, voluntarily and without reservation.
I have reaffirmed it on many occasions since then.
That acceptance stands until I choose to recant it
or to take some other pledge instead.

However, I have not made any decision to recant that pledge.
Nor have I chosen to take some other pledge.
Taking a different pledge obviously would supersede and void
the original pledge that I took.  I do not choose to do so.

----

A few years after I learned the pledge,
a new and different pledge was introduced.

I refuse to violate the pledge I willingly accepted,
by taking this different pledge,
which not only added additional words,
but did so in a way that totally changed the original meaning.

Here, in its entirety, is the that pledge I took and still accept:
(Please listen carefully.)

	"I pledge allegience
	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.

The key words here are:  republic, liberty, and justice,
which are used to define the nation to which I pledged 
and still pledge my allegience

In the late 1950s, two words were interpolated,
to entirely change the meaning of the pledge.
I refuse to violate the pledge I took by taking a different one!

The two words were "Under God".
Such an interpolation would completely corrupt the meaning
of the pledge to which I adhere.  

These words violate the LIBERTY of those who do not owe 
	any allegience to the religious concepts these words imply.
These words violate JUSTICE, 
	by subjugating it to something other than
	what is spelled out explicitly in the Constitution
These words corrupt the meaning of the word REPUBLIC:
	the definition of a republic
	does not rely on any religious sanction,
NOR DO OUR INALIENABLE RIGHTS
	require the existence of anything other than ourselves.

(To be meaningful, RIGHTS ARE inalienable and inviolable,
	regardless of their source!)

Such words attempt to subjugate the Constitution to religion,
	by placing LIBERTY and JUSTICE
		U N D E R
	a religious authority 
	or some sort of superseding deity,
thus contradicting the very foundations of our independence
from a previous absolute ruler.

	I pledged and will pledge 
	allegience only to a republic that is 
	one nation	with LIBERTY & JUSTICE for all.

----

Yes, I have a bit of a problem with "indivisible", too.
There is nothing in the Constitution
that required South Carolina to remain in the union.

Hoewever, that is not much of an issue today,
and, as my old friend Elliot likes to say,
that part of the Constitution 
was amended at Appomatox.

Indivisible was in the pledge when  took it.
I won't violate that pledge by removing "indivisible".
Nor will I violate it by adding the words "under God".

Words have meaning.
I meant what I said then, and now.

	-/s/-	bam





(Copyright 2003 by Bruce Alan Martin, liberty@abcdunlimited.com )