Some people, mostly on the conservative side of the political aisle, often get riled-up about those words “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance. They love to post memes of the flag and the Pledge AS IT WAS WRITTEN on Facebook and do the ‘ol “Like & share because Facebook keeps removing this,” routine. Or, “Let’s flood Facebook with this image before they take it down again.”
Of course, Facebook hasn’t and isn’t removing images of the flag, pledge, or that Marine who lost a leg, for that matter.
But conservatives have a bad habit of latching onto any and nearly all conspiracy theories that support their particular narrative of the God, Guts, and Guns mantra. I’ll talk another day about how many liberals are devious kings and queens of Marxist economic theory while sucking-up to the logos on the blue portion of the flag photo above, all the while promoting the systematical dismantling of our nation’s constitutional foundations. Mind you, I’m not saying that some conservatives aren’t aiding and abetting in that dismantling with their tin-foil hat fears and militia bullcrap, but that’s all for another screed.
Today, I saw the above-mentioned meme about sharing the Pledge “…as it was written…” showing the words “under God” as part of that narrative.
That’s false, of course.
Written in 1892 by Christian Socialist minister, Francis Bellamy, the original Pledge did not contain those words “under God”. And Rev. Bellamy was a Baptist minister, no less. Christian Socialist Baptist minister. Moving on….
“Under God” was officially inserted into the pledge in June of 1954. It is often described as being an effort that would distinguish the United States from the atheistic Soviet Union during the Cold War. As history has shown, that effort really made a huge difference in bringing about world peace and our own national unity. Moving on again…
For better or worse, the flag above is probably the most representative banner that we could actually have as our United States flag. Both conservatives and liberals pledge their power hungry souls to that flag.
Perhaps the Pledge of Allegiance should be amended again. MoveOn dot org., BLM, The Lincoln Project, Democracy Now, The Tea Party, the NFL, MLB, MLH, NBA, and every other socio-political group could form a coalition to write a new pledge that would satisfy everyone and no one. (Good luck with that.)
They could even come up with a third salute to the pledge, like kneeling or some other sanctimonious action to express our love for Pledge, Flag, and Country.
Speaking of the salute to the Pledge, the original Bellamy Salute is a long suppressed memory of what school kids and adults use to use to show love for country when reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. It’s illustrated below in the breathtaking images found online. Heil Amerikka!
The truth is that as millions of Americans clammer for commerce to reopen, the salute or pledge that holds any real meaning today is represented in that flag I saw hanging on a middle-class front porch, along a bucolic Americana neighborhood in Rochester, New York.
Pledging allegiance to the Corporatocracy of America is an idea for a meme that Facebook would NEVER try to remove.
©️Rick Burnett Baker
August 6, 2020
