How very odd, I grew up saying the pledge every day in elementary school, this was in the 60's and nobody ever got "riled up"....imagine that.....in the 1960's!
Missouri's gov. just signed a bill today that allows the pledge to be said in schools once a week,.....it's a good start.....
Context. Today, not 40 years ago.
Propgandizing citizens was mush easier in the 60's, wasn't it?
Back then, we weren't taught that the US was complicit in the sinking of the Maine, that the US knew about the Pearl Harbor attack, that the Gulf of Tonkin incident wasn't true, that the military had conducted medical experiments on soldiers, that a single bullet could cause so much damage, etc, etc. We were more likely then to believe anything that the government told us. Even when it wasn't true.
Those that truly support the Constution and the concepts of liberty and freedom sometimes have to disapprove of of what happens under the flag of the country.
Do you realize that all around the world there are plain, ordinary people who do not understand why the US military is occupying their lands, why the CIA is messing with their government, or why the USA is bombing their countries?
We may see it in a Big Picture context, but we rarely see it in the same way that those on the ground 4000 miles away see it.
clinton was bombing aspirin factories in third world countries to distract from his troubles at home, and all those cruise missiles he sent abroad were sent while you were pledging allegience to the flag that he hid behind. Are you certain you want to pledge allegience to that?