The Pledge

Guardian:

“Some Democratic caucus members omitted ‘one nation under God’ from the Pledge of Allegiance during [convention] meetings,” the fact-checking website [Politifact] wrote. “But the line was not excluded from any of the convention’s primetime televised spots.

“On the first night … participants sang the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ instead of saying the Pledge of Allegiance. On the second, third and fourth nights, ‘under God’ was included in the pledge.”

What do the participants see this exercise as meaning? What do television viewers think? What does it mean to be allegiant to the United States at a time when the US is described by other members of the UN Security Council as endeavoring to forge its own definition of law? Is one allegiant to a perception of an 18th Century United States – that of „The Founding Fathers“? Allegiant to a pre-Trump – the US of Obama’s drone strikes rather than Trump’s? Allegiant to a Bush/Cheney Patriot Act US? The Gore/Lieberman Administration which might have been? The Clinton Madeleine Albright „the price is worth it“ US?

I personally feel the familial obligation that might have me attempting to alleviate the delusions and sufferings of a debauched syphilitic mad uncle. You definitely worry about what the guy might do with that loaded pistol, you feel sadness at the angry curses he lashes out with at his family and neighbors, but what does it mean to be „allegiant“ to someone who is murderously insane?

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