Today is Flag Day in the U.S. (and, as it happens, my son’s anniversary). The Stars and Stripes, with many fewer stars, of course, was adopted 234 years ago today.Thinking of the flag invariably brings to mind the Pledge of Allegiance, which generations of schoolchildren have recited every day in school. Seven years ago, when litigation was attempting to remove the words “under God” from the pledge, I wrote an essay about the Pledge on my Web site. In that essay, I proposed what I thought was an improved pledge:
I promise to be faithful to the United States of America and to preserve, protect, and defend its Constitution, the foundation of our Republic: one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.I still think that this pledge (or promise) is an improvement. You can read why in my essay “The Pledge of Allegiance Revisited.”
The phrase, "under God" is not appropriate. All existence may be held to be under God, but the nation is under the Constitution. ("Liberty and Justice for All" is an aspiration at best, not a statement of present conditions.) Your suggestion is an improvement.
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