I Pledge Allegiance

by Jim Barrett

Here it is, Fourth of July once more. Hard to believe I’ve experienced over 70 of them (and over half of them right here in the Ozarks). How many more times will I hear firecrackers down the street, smell brats smoking on the grill, hear John Wayne’s version of The Pledge, or see folks waving flags and singing patriotic songs?

The Fourth of July is one of the greatest national days in the hearts of Americans and yet many people don’t realize the date is meaningless to billions of people throughout the world. So much about America — our history and beliefs so sacred to us — is of little to no consequence to the world at large. Curious, isn’t it? And hard for us to accept.

Well over 200 years ago, on the fourth of July, our original 13 colonies bravely declared their independence from England’s rule. In a very real way, the Fourth is America’s birthday celebration marking the birth of our independent nation.

Back then many patriots gave their lives to see the little nation-child born. They would give their lives to guarantee America would grow up big and healthy.

Many American patriots also gave their lives to keep the colonies loyal to England and the king. Both groups believed they were doing the right thing, dying for the right cause. How intense were those feelings? So intense a large number of loyalists eventually left the new nation and took up residence in Canada. Today, while we are celebrating our day of independence, descendants of that dedicated group don colonial costumes and march to commemorate their American dedication to God, England and king. Curious, isn’t it?

Every state in America has its own flag flying grandly over capitol and office buildings alike. But on the Fourth, the Stars & Stripes is the flag of the day. No one in this country pledges allegiance to a state flag but millions pledge allegiance to the American flag. And — like the meaning of the Fourth of July — I often wonder how many actually listen to what they are celebrating and saying?

Recite the Pledge, from memory if you can, and listen to what you are saying. What does it mean to you?

I’ve heard people adamantly proclaim the Pledge was “made up” by the same “guys” who wrote the Constitution. Well, not hardly. The Pledge isn’t historically tied to the Fourth of July at all. Rather, it was a simple concept of an editor at The Youth’s Companion (a magazine for children), first used in a Columbus Day celebration in public schools on October 12, 1892 (by proclamation of President Benjamin Harrison).

The original pledge went as follows:

I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the republic for which it stands: one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

The pledge was later amended to read, “To the flag of the United States of America,” in lieu of “my flag.” Officially adopted by the nation on June 14, 1924, the oath was amended again in 1954, by a joint resolution of Congress, with the additional words, “under God.”

Allegiance, as we pledge it, means giving loyalty to the nation (recognizing the liege rights of that to which we are pledging). In medieval days, pledging to liege rights was a very sacred thing and should be considered so today. Of course, one cannot serve a piece of colored cloth. But that cloth is our symbol, standing for our nation and its people, and carried around the world and into space. My father fought beneath it on a cruiser in the First World War. My brothers fought beneath it in World War II all across North Africa and Europe. I fought under it in the Korean War.

In every case I and my family believed we were fighting for a just cause. We were fighting to free oppressed people and prevent the spread of tyranny. Not once did we fight to take over someone’s country and keep it. We all saw brave American men and women die to bring that symbolic piece of American cloth through battles and into oppressed and unhappy lands so those lands might be freed and returned to their rightful citizens.

I know and appreciate the meaning of every word in the Pledge of Allegiance and I do not celebrate the Fourth of July just for the firecrackers, the brats and the beers. I often look around my Ozark country and say to myself, “This, by the grace of God, is what I and my family fought to preserve. This unfettered, untrammeled, unspoiled land, here in the heart of America.” My family was all heartland country folk, a bunch of Kansas prairie people, and we loved to touch the earth and know it was ours to do with as we wished. For it was American earth, bought and paid for with American blood, American guts, sweat and tears. Or is all that rhetoric just too much patriotic “drivel” for you to accept in these modernistic, politically correct, self-indulgent times?

Sorry if I’m soap-boxing too much.

I hope we don’t “politically correct” ourselves down the same road the Romans chose. Those of you have have read a bit of history know that Rome once ruled the known world with an iron fist. But those beneath Roman rule were well-protected and safe from invasion. Roman citizens enjoyed paved roads, sanitary conditions, proper market arrangements, running water, civil courts, laws to which they could appeal injustices and a good deal of religious freedom as long as their religion didn’t advocate violent overthrow of the government.

But Rome grew fat, self-indulgent, soft and careless. The Roman Senate became a place to swap money, political favors and legal rights rather than a dedicated place to carefully formulate laws to care for the people and run the empire well.

The great generals and the legions, once vastly admired, slowly fell into disfavor and were used as pawns for senators’ wishes and indulgences. Jealous nations undermined Roman solidity and confidence. At last, the Vandals marched into this once-powerful land and looted, raped and slaughtered.

Could history repeat itself? Are we the deteriorating Rome of today? Some make comparisons. Think about what some of our very peculiar people are trying to do to our traditions, laws and the very soul and fabric of the nation. Say the Pledge of Allegiance to yourself and think of the words. Think quite seriously about the Fourth of July. Then look at what is happening around us.

The Vandals, the Goths, the Huns and all the rest of the dangers of European and Roman historical times may be gone. But they have been replaced by lots of folks equally dangerous, equally determined to destroy us, equally as vicious and uncaring for human life and rights.

If we allow our nation to be divided and subverted by extremists and those who would “politically correct” us to pieces, well, we might just as well throw open the nation’s doors and invite the predators in to hack us and our country to pieces. They are out there waiting for the chance, just as they have been throughout all history. You’d best believe it — and pray you don’t live to see it happen.

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.

A truly amazing, tiny, 31-word piece of literature with vast meaning, embedded truths and a sense of duty and devotion. We Americans, living under this pledge, have repeatedly died by the thousands to save the world from chaos. And, if kept intact, true and powerful, we Americans and that sacred pledge will continue to save our fellow nations forever.

Hope you have a safe and happy Independence Day. Isn’t it great to live in the Ozarks? It is one of God’s truly blessed places.

June 4, 2014

Photo credits: J. Heston, 2013, State of the Ozarks © Archive.

Plate 1, July 19, Appanoose County, Iowa; Plate 2, July 4, State of the Ozarks Kitchen; Plate 3, July 19, rural southern Iowa; Plate 4, August 18, Iowa State Fair, Des Moines; Plate 5, September 14, Rosine, Kentucky; Plate 6, July 23, Peoria County, Illinois; Plate 7, August 31, Ozark Mule Days, Ozark, Missouri; Plate 8, July 18, Appanoose County, Iowa; Plate 9, August 18, Iowa State Fair, Des Moines; Plate 10, September 26, Raleigh, North Carolina; Plate 11, Iowa State Fair, Des Moines; Plate 12, September 13, Downtown Louisville, Kentucky; Plate 13, September 13, Downtown Louisville, Kentucky; Plate 14, September 14, Louisville, Kentucky; Plate 15, August 18, Iowa State Fair.