[Kartographer]

So should any newly elected official be forced to take the oath of office? What if he doesn't believe in the Constitution what if he is against it and don't believe in it? You are free as a citizen to protest even the Constitution? So how could you be forced to swear to protect and defend that which you do not believe in?

[bvw]

Some offices require ONE taking of the oath of that office, that's fine. Taking on the duties of such and office is a serious matter, and and oath may well represent the seriousness and responsibility, and acts to bond the oath-takers actions to the serious duty.

That's different than an oath that is made vain (1) by having people parrot it day after day, (2) forcing it upon people who have no need for such a serious oath -- for example children in a classroom, (3) requiring it for a trivial, mundane or regular duty, (4) making an improperly worded oath -- a real oath is very carefully worded, (5) making the oath to an object or person, rather than to an ideal, or to G-d.

The Pledge of Allegiance is now and was created as a socialist indoctrination. Look it up. Francis Bellamy, Utopian Christian Socialist.

It is a bad oath in many ways. I never say it. I'll stand when it is said, and even maybe remove my hat -- but that is all. And that I only do to avoid disrupting a public meeting. If someone objected to my not saying it, I'd have to go further and refuse to stand, or remove my hat.