First the Facts:

Section 4 of the Flag Code states:

The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, and render the military salute.”

Source: USHistory.org Note, I read the terms of this site and they are a bit snitty about stuff. Please note I am only quoting their quote of the Flag Code. They can have the credit anyway. If you want to see the whole of what they say, it is interesting but I’ll use my own words from here on out – with noted quotations from other sources.

Couple this with a bit of personal history. While I never abstained from citing this pledge, more often than not I didn’t give it much thought either. When I considered myself an atheist, I refrained from saying the words “under God”. Why speak words I did not believe? It follows I maintained some belief in those words I did speak.

For a time I worked at an elementary school providing computer support. I was often in the halls while things were settling down for the day and thus wandering when the national anthem was played and the pledge was spoken. I was a terror on anyone ignoring the proceedings and disrupting things. If someone was walking the halls, I made them stop. If they were talking I made them stop. I silently pointed them towards the nearest flag. It did not matter to me if they honored the anthem or the flag. What mattered was they respect the rights of those of us who chose to honor them.

Now about the rest of this essay. With all my focus on liberty related issues, this pledge of allegiance came to mind. As you may guess, I hate doing stuff by simple rote without thinking about why I do it and what it means… really means. So… the pledge of allegiance.

The very words “pledge of allegiance” loosely means “a personal promise of commitment to a group or cause” (my concoction). I suspect this word “allegiance” is closely related to the word “ally”, however the stated etymology says it comes for the Anglo-French word “lige” so legion?
Merrium-Webster defines it as such: “the fidelity owed by a subject or citizen to a sovereign or government ”

Well, I am not a subject, nor is my pledge to any government. Sorry guys but you government people should be pledging fidelity to US. Furthermore, I do not “owe” you any “fidelity”. The whole definition implies the government is the boss of me. Needless to say I like my rendering better.
So when I say these words I commit myself to the“Flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands”

Well, not so much the flag itself. A flag is an inanimate object. I might was well commit myself to the chair I’m sitting in. I have a much more intimate relationship with the chair anyway. So my pledge is to what the flag represents – “the Republic for which it stands”.

 

Next… “one Nation” – hmmm I need to think about this one. The fact is this concept presupposes or at least indicates a national government superior to the sovereign states. In other words – the Union must be preserved at all costs. Now I’ve got a problem. Let’s go back to this “Republic” thing.
Republic, form of government in which a state is ruled by representatives of the citizen body.

Source: Encyclopedia Britannica

So the United States is a Republic – ruled (can we modify this with governed?) by “representatives of the citizen body”. The original format was for the House of Representatives to be directly elected by us citizens and the Senate represented the individual states. Senators were originally elected by our state governments. Why? I’d say the idea was, as the states are sovereign, they have a say in things too. Meanwhile the President and Vice-President was elected by the Electoral College with the electors chosen by us citizens. Few understand the exact workings of the Electoral College but my own assessment is it is far better than moving to a direct popular vote as the current system protects the rest of the nation from the big cities with high population densities. In short, this Electoral College idea was pure genius.

Getting back to this “nation” idea – I’m still thinkin’. Let’s move on.

Next up “under God”. In case you are wondering, I now have no problem with these words. If you do, feel free to omit them if you must.

Now we come to “indivisible”. Hmmmm, interesting word that. “Unable to be divided” is one definition. Here my problem grows by leaps and bounds. This takes us to the whole forced unity concept where the states are not so much as “united” as they are “permanently welded together never to be taken apart”. I suspect if the founding fathers were presented with things this way they’d likely decline the invite. My whole point here is the United States is “United” because the States are a voluntary part of the Union. Once coercion is applied we are no longer citizens but subjects. Then the question arises: to whom or what are we subjects?

Finally the pledge concludes, “with liberty and justice for all”. Okay, I’m all for that, no really I am. Now if I think about it I have to wonder how that works. Liberty and justice for all of us who live in this one indivisible nation, not by choice, but by the force of a central government who will march us back at gunpoint if we decided to leave the table? We all know this already happened. What were the founding fathers thinking! Who wrote this?

Oh. None of the founding fathers wrote this. As far as I can tell there was no “pledge of allegiance” back then. This pledge was written by, wait for it, a dude named Francis Bellamy. He was a “minister” and a socialist. He wasn’t even born until 1851. Originally the pledge didn’t even have the words “under God”. President Eisenhower pushed for the inclusion of those two little words.
So there you have it – 51 words. Words we are supposed to speak with pride because we are patriots after all… or is that parrots? Well, I am done with that, thank you. If the national anthem plays, I will turn and face the flag with my hand over my heart. When the pledge is spoken I well remain silent, respecting my fellow citizens. However my hands will remain by my side or behind my back with my lips sealed. No disrespect intended, but I will not parrot words just because it is expected. What you do is up to you because – Liberty Baby!

May God bless you and keep you,

Andy

 

This is the text to the audio “Just Words! Hmmmph!” You can find the audio here.

So what if you declare “I STAND for Liberty!” ? Big Deal! Right? Well… Yes, actually words are a big deal. Consider…

Without words what would the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States of America be? They would not exist for all practical purposes. Neither would scripture. Without words, man is just another animal.

Before man, the record of Genesis – KJV – reads:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Observe the sequence: In the beginning God created.

In verse 2 the word “was” should read “became”. There is no Hebrew word for “is” (to be) – however there is a Hebrew word for became (to become). God did not create the heaven and the earth without form and void – it became this way.

Thus the heaven and earth became without form and void.

Verse 3: And God said…

He spoke and stuff happened. Oh yeah. He, God, the Creator of heaven and earth used words. Grok that.

Laws are nothing more than words. Supreme court decisions are mere words. Today – men and women are imprisoned, their property seized, their lives ruined based on words. This is not just happening in far away lands – it is happening right here, right now in this nation.

To put it simply – everything you believe, everything you know or think you know are expressed in – you guessed it – words. Words are exceptionally powerful. Kings, dictators and other controllers fear words more than anything else. Armed rebellions can be quashed. Dissidents can be imprisoned or killed outright. But words… An IDEA… an idea can take on a life of its own.

Right now – the controllers are flooding this nation with words. All kinds of words. Accusing words. Hateful words. Liberty stealing words. Don’t get me wrong – those of us who love liberty are not silent at all. We are expressing ourselves in many ways and many forms. We are using whatever outlets we can. And we are losing. Badly. How? Why do I say this?

I’m saying this because the preponderance of the evidence says so. Look around you. Are you more free today than you were even yesterday? Are the controllers backing down at all? For goodness sakes, consider what so many say is a landmark Supreme Court decision, District of Columbia v. Heller. In terms of liberty, it was a bone – a dry, crusty bone at that. The decision was not a “win” as much as it was a finger in the dike. Even eleven years after the court decided against the District of Columbia, very little has changed there, much less anywhere else. In short, even where liberty “won”, we lost ground.

Granted, we have seen some victories, in the courts and elsewhere. Several states have passed “constitutional carry” laws. We’ve seen gains in other areas, but overall, we are far less free every day. Why?

My own opinion is this is two-fold – we’ve kept God at arm’s length and we are fighting on too many fronts.

As far as my first contention, I will attest to this from personal experience – I am as guilty as anyone. Don’t get me wrong. While few, if any, would tag me as “devout”, I seek God daily. I depend on Him. I try to give thanks as often as possible for the many, many blessings He showers upon me. Dang! I certainly sound like a “good Christian” don’t I? Well, it might look that way, but no matter what I do, I fail so many times during each day, I shudder to think of it, so, no, I’m not really much different, certainly no better than anyone. The bottom line is: I’ve missed a major point for most of my life. As a matter of fact, I only recently got this myself. What point is that?

Our Constitutional Republic Is a Gift from a Holy God

Note, I’ve always held my constitutional rights are given by God and merely guaranteed by the constitution. This principle is foundational for me. When the significance of the concept that the very foundation of our nation was God-given dawned on me – I was floored. More than that I was energized. For decades I struggled with what I saw as conflicting loyalties – God or Nation. Maybe it was because the idea separation of Church and State was drilled into me from my youth. I don’t know but what I now realize is liberty is a holy pursuit. It is our Godly duty to defend our liberty with everything we can muster. However, my understanding was not to end there.

Once I understood this nation is not just blessed by a Holy God but it is HE who established it and gifted the very foundation – the constitutional basis for it – as well as my own duty to defend it – my Heavenly Father made it absolutely clear HE WILL PRESERVE THIS GIFT! Wow.

So then what is my part? For now, I am to stand and declare this truth. That is it. Something even little old me can do. It is something you can do too. You need not declare it to me. I’m just writing words. Declare it to yourself first – acknowledge the truth of what I write here. Go to God. Pray. Ask for His guidance, His leading. Ask for understanding about what this means to your life. Awareness needs to come first. I cannot tell you how this will come about but I am certain our Heavenly Father will do as He sees fit and no power in heaven and earth can stop Him.

Will there be more? Is this all I or anyone will be asked to do? I truly hope not. If what I do today is the end of it – I’d say I’m barking up the wrong tree. Yes, I want to serve my Heavenly Father and my Lord and Savior Jesus the Messiah in any way I can. Yes, I am willing to do more. If I am called to hold forth this truth in other ways – I will. For now I will speak words of truth!

1 Corinthians 1:21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

22 For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom:

23 But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;

24 But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27 But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28 And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29 That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Then again, they’re just words.

Simple and Sweet – Add your name and state below as comment.

Let’s build a list of citizens saying

“We Stand for Liberty!”