Pledge of Allegiance

I completely agree with the ruling the "liberal" court handed down about
the Pledge of Allegiance not being recited in public schools. I agree that
religion should be kept out of public schools. I also support removing "In
God We Trust" from our currency because that doesn't represent our nation as
a whole. But I support this ruling for a reason you may not suspect.
    I have grown to despise this tyrant monster which we have that we
allowed to impose itself upon us and the rest of the planet that is called
The American Government. I DO support a government of the people, for the
people, by the people. NOT a government of the people, for Corporate
America, by Corporate America. The voice of the people is NOT being heard,
let alone their will being represented. If it were so, you, Sean, would be
complaining about how Gore's Attorney General is violating the Civil
Liberties of the American People instead of defending Dubya and Ashcroft for
doing the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I don't think we would have
gotten much different out of Gore. They're both owned by the same
multi-billion dollar corporations. The point is, that this "liberal" court
appointed Bush president! AGAINST the clear intent of the voters!
    Clinton was just as bad, too. He kicked 10,000,000 people off of
welfare (but none off of Corporate Welfare), and promised states more
federal funding if they could get even MORE off of welfare. He increased
the number of crimes for which the death penalty could be given. He refused
to sign the International Land Mine Ban Treaty. He supported drilling for
gas and oil on federal lands. He refused to force the auto manufacturers to
produce more fuel efficient vehicles. More non-violent drug offenders were
put in jail and prison for their "crime" than under any other
administration. Does the general public benefit from any of this? No.
Corporate America benefits. But you say, "There's more jobs now than there
were 20 years ago!". Yes, there are. If you can find a way to support your
family on a $7.00 /hr job. All of the good jobs have been shipped to Mexico
thanks to NAFTA. The American public surely is not finding any benefits
with that! Who is? GM, Ford, Chrysler... I find these far more offensive
than massaging the tonsils of Monica Lewinsky.
    We live in a puritan society. Whether or not you practice Christianity,
you are forced by the laws that coincide with Christian ideals to comply.
You don't need to be a Christian to know that murder is wrong (unless it's
in the name of your god or oil). Nor do you need be a Christian to know
that having sex with a 4 year old isn't quite right, either. Consensual sex
between adults (no matter which form or between which genders) should not be
legislated. It's not up to the networks to keep your children from watching
pornography. The use of language should not be hindered. It should be an
individual's right to use any drug he or she desires, provided that use is
not interfering with their job, in which case they should be fired, and
offered medical treatment (if they want it). NOT thrown in prison for 30
years! Simply observing the number of drug offenders in prison should be an
indication that our drug laws need some serious overhauling. Prison was
designed for violent criminals. Not all people who are sent to prison are
violent to begin with. But after they spend some time in the cage with
truly violent criminals, they stand a MUCH higher probability of coming out
a violent person. And now that they're out of prison, whether or not
they've actually beaten the incredible odds against them, and have been
rehabilitated in spite of the grossly ill-equipped correctional facilities,
you want to know that they have been to prison, so you can make it
impossible for them to get a job, and get back into a "legitimate" society.
You refuse them work, and they resort to crime again, because of no other
options, and then you point at them and scream "REPEAT OFFENDER!". Granted,
some people don't get it. They never will. But you cannot sacrifice many
for a few.
    Then, we have this problem with the social class gap. I'm not saying
that everybody should be a millionaire. But in a country like ours, and
even with the "poor economy", there is no excuse for anybody to have their
electricity turned off. Nobody should have any problem feeding their
family. There shouldn't even be a need for social welfare! Corporate
America has made it necessary, and they have convinced the right to fight in
their cause and condemn it. We spent roughly $110 BILLION dollars on
corporate welfare last year. Divided by 191,829,271 taxpayers 16 and over,
that comes to $573.43 per taxpayer per year spend feeding people who don't
need the money to begin with! They already have more than they could ever
want. But in the name of greed, they run a business that eliminates
competition by buying it, so they can provide an inferior product at an
inflated price so they can remain "competitive". With who? Small
businesses are closing shop and international chains prevail. Customer
service is a thing of the past, and if you don't like it, well, too bad.
You have no other alternatives because Big Business has a monopoly. Our
government has encouraged business to operate this way.
    So, you say, "Go to college. Get an education and make something of
yourself". The majority of public schools are academically inadequate.
They're overcrowded, understaffed, and grossly mismanaged. Educating our
youth should be our number one priority. No expense should be spared in
this endeavor. Large cities, which have the most revenue from taxes, almost
always have the poorest education system. Children who grow up in a poorly
staffed and under-funded school system are at an almost unfailing risk of
performing poorly in class, and falling through the cracks not to be seen
again, until they're riding in the back seat of a police car. A great
number of our youth don't make it out of high school, let alone into
college. Dare I demand that inner city schools provide the same education
as the suburbs? If I do, I fear that the quality of education in the
suburbs will be diluted and sacrificed to meet the standard set by the inner
city. All of the public schools could do a much better job. The Board of
Education needs to stop blaming the Teachers Union and vice versa. We need
to stop spending so much money on Corporate Welfare and the Military and
start investing in our future. Our children are the ones who will be
running this country when we're old and decrepit.

    226 years ago, we felt the need to separate ourselves from an oppressive
government. The following was our response. I believe it still applies
today.

    When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and
to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that
among these     are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to
secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their
just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form
of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the
People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new
Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its
powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their
Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments
long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and
accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long
train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces
a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it     is their right, it
is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for
their future security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these
Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their
former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great
Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in
direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To
prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

    Following are a few of the citations of which our present government is
just as guilty.

    He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for
the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

    He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others
to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation,
have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State
remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from
without, and convulsions within.

    He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that
purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to
pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the
conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

    He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

    He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to
the Civil power.

    For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.

    He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

    This is why blind patriotism pains me so. The government which is
supposed to work for me sickens me, instead. We have become that which we
fought against at the foundation of our country. I get very angry when I
see somebody driving down the road in their Ford Excursion with an American
Flag flying from the antennae, or when I watch the news and see the phrase
"America Strikes Back", or when I hear somebody say that a suspension of
our Constitutional Rights is justifiable in the name of National Security.
If we had played a fair and clean game to begin with, we wouldn't be in this
mess. It's our oppressive and money-hungry nature that got us where we are
today. I have no respect for a government who has put my family in this
situation. So, yes, I agree with the ban on the Pledge of Allegiance.
Because I will NOT be loyal to a symbol of tyranny and arrogance. I will
not be loyal to a country who values the American Dollar more than human
life.   Rather, I would make this pledge.

    I pledge allegiance to the concept of a new and fair form of government,
whose symbol is not sacred as a holy grail, but its ideals and liberties are
what are held sacred. And to the people which this government truthfully
represents. One nation, many people. With absolute freedom and equality
for all.


				*a2jk* *Pledge of Allegiance*



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