I don’t think most kids would pick up on that kind of nuance (or even most adults), but I agree there’s a valid interpretation that you’re pledging allegience to the Constitution – the Republic – and thus “indivisibility, liberty, and justice”. That is: you remain allegiant to the Constitution. But the current pledge has so much wrong with it that it’s cult-like.
Obviously get “under God” the hell out of there. Cold War-era reactionary trash.
There’s no reason to assume from the literal text that what I said is true. Why not just focus on the principles?
It’s a waste of time for kids to recite a dumb pledge they barely understand; granted they can’t force you and a lot of schools IIRC don’t do that anymore.
Even if the interpretation is true, why should this specific system of government be so glorified?
Get it the fuck out of there. It was introduced 100 years after the formation of the US by a Civil War officer as propaganda for children – probably paranoid out of his fucking mind after the South seceded. There’s no reason kids can’t learn to think for themselves when they’re ready to actually understand these ideas.
I don’t think most kids would pick up on that kind of nuance (or even most adults), but I agree there’s a valid interpretation that you’re pledging allegience to the Constitution – the Republic – and thus “indivisibility, liberty, and justice”. That is: you remain allegiant to the Constitution. But the current pledge has so much wrong with it that it’s cult-like.