Who Knew That Voluntary Recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in School Is "Controversial"?

Arlington High School in Arlington, MA, has banned the voluntary recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, which was requested by Sean Harrington, a student at the school. The school committee deadlocked 3-3 on this "controversial" issue. They expressed concern that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite the Pledge. You know, because it's so "controversial." Also, the phrase "under God" "violates students' right to practice their own religion." Another school committee member pointed out that "Patriotism is a very personal thing for all of us, but I do not think it is in the School Committee's best interest to mandate that any of our employees recite the pledge." (Patriotism is a very personal thing. You know, some people express their patriotism by saying the Pledge, and others express their patriotism by sitting in their chair, arms folded, with a sullen expression. Who's to say which is more patriotic?)

These stories are becoming more and more common in our country. Just a few weeks ago I commented on the students at a Los Angeles area high school who were suspended for wearing a shirt with an American flag on it. There have been several examples of elementary school kids getting in trouble for religious expression on school property as well (religious drawings, bowing their head to pray in the cafeteria, etc).

All of the supposed complaints about allowing the Pledge of Allegiance in the school are red herrings. They can't find a single teacher at a public high school who is willing to recite the Pledge of Allegiance? As Harrington put it, "If we cannot have a willing teacher who would want to say it, then this system of ours is cracked." The words "under God" don't violate anyone's right to practice their own religion. They are completely generic and don't endorse any religion. No one can be mandated to say the Pledge if they don't want to. Our Supreme Court has already declared it unconstitutional to force any student or any teacher to recite it. This is not an issue of forcing anyone to say the Pledge. This is an issue of denying students' right to express pride in their country on school property. And patriotism is not a personal, subjective, undefinable thing. Patriotism is very simply loving and taking pride in one's country. Either you have it or you don't. It's not complicated and it's not subjective. And if you hate America so much that you can't even stand to sit by and watch while other people recite a 20 second expression of patriotism, then you probably don't deserve to be living in America.

And the sad thing is this. Many liberals are not patriotic. I hate to say it, but it's true. The people trying to ban the Pledge and the American flag from schools are not conservatives. They are liberals. Liberals are the ones who attack our military and try to ban them from recruiting on college campuses (including our most recent Supreme Court appointment, Elena Kagan). Liberals are the ones who apologize incessantly for our "imperialistic" foreign policy, our "racist" culture, and our "shameful" heritage (including Obama and Jimmy Carter). Many people blamed the 9/11 attacks on the United States, and they were almost all liberals. Academic liberals re-write history to slander presidents like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. Liberal authors slam America's capitalistic system and religious culture. Liberal justices show an utter disregard for the U.S. Constitution and the original intent of its authors, inventing "rights" out of thin air, claiming that rights guaranteed in the Bill of Rights no longer apply, and making certain Constitutional provisions so broad they could mean anything. Liberal politicians deny American exceptionalism and claim we have no right to be the leader of the free world (think Obama). They claim we are racist to defend our own borders or demand that people who want to be citizens of our country learn our language and our history. They claim they love America, but not the America as it has existed in the past and as it exists now. What they really love is an America of their own imagination that they want to create in the future through their progressive ideology. They don't love our history, our traditions, our flag, our military, our freedoms, our Constitution. Most of the time, they seem downright hostile to all those things.

I'm saying that the above things are true of all liberals. They certainly are not. Some liberals do genuinely love our country as it is now. But there is a large, aggressive wing of liberalism that has nothing but blame, hostility, and contempt for America, and it has a disproportionate influence in many of our most important institutions -- government, schools and universities, and Hollywood. Because of its influence in schools and universities, it is having a big impact on our kids. I don't know if it can be defeated or not, but if it's going to be defeated it will have to be through ordinary citizens -- like parents in Arlington, MA -- standing up and saying "Enough is enough, I'm proud of my country and I'm not afraid to say it."