Pledge of Confusion?

It's a new school year, but an old fight is brewing in American classrooms. Teachers and administrators around the country are scratching their heads once again over the Pledge of Allegiance.

The courts have consistently ruled that students have the right not to recite the pledge in public schools. But now some First Amendment advocates are taking it one step further, arguing that the law compels educators to inform kids at the beginning of school that the decision is entirely up to them.

Read Complete Story

I'm torn about this. I'm a deeply patriotic person. I've served my country. I continue to serve the public. There's no avoiding the anxiety and fear, however that I have about this once great country of ours. The America that I live in today, is not the same America that I pledged allegiance to as a child. The liberal movement in America has so blurred who we once were and the things that we stood for that made us great, that I don't even really know who America is anymore.

I'm a grown man, with a fair amount of understanding about the world and how it works and if I'm this uncertain myself, do I really want my kids reciting that pledge? Doesn't that send them a mixed message about making promises you can't truthfully make? I mean, I wouldn't pledge allegiance to this country under the present leadership and direction this nation is heading. Why would I expect my kids to recite empty words?

America is a very dangerous place to be right now. Not dangerous like living in some third world country under a brutal dictatorship...but dangerous like we've lost our identity and our moral compass. If we can't keep our moral compass in our ever changing world, how do we expect the rest of the world to tow the line? I can't pledge allegiance to a nation that is promoting socialism, pushing the liberal agenda so hard that people of morality are demonized, and with leadership that is weakening our nation defensively, fiscally, and morally.

I want very much for my children to have a deep sense of patriotism and serve their fellow countrymen, but they have nothing worthy of pledging allegiance too. I don’t really know how to proceed with my kids in areas like this. I’ve lost my hope in this country and the future scares the living daylights out of me.

Recently, I was engaged in a conversation with a dear relative of mine who accused me of having the socialistic stance compared to that of our national leadership. This discussion took place during the rage that was sweeping America over Obama’s indoctrination speech to our children, in which we kept our kids out of school for.

His argument against me was that I am basically brainwashing my children, because I won’t let them decide for themselves whether or not our leadership is harming America in this present day. I explained that I couldn’t disagree with him more.

My children are 8 and 6 years old. They have no real understanding about how choices made today can dramatically affect so many others for such a long period of time. They’re developing their moral compass and as responsible parents, it’s my wife’s and my job to teach them right from wrong, lives lessons about choice and consequence, and instill in them a value system that will make them productive and responsible members of society.

In short, they’re too young to understand the complexities of how badly Obama and the liberal movement are damaging our nation with lasting bad choice after bad choice. So, we, as parents, must make choices about how best to protect them from the rhetoric of the worst President and congress in American history. We must make choices about how best to explain to them why they are not allowed to watch the speech of an irresponsible man, who has no business speaking to elementary aged school children.

It pains us to look our children in the eye and tell them that our nations President and congress are bold face liars with a seemingly endless lack of morality. How do you explain to a child who knows that killing the defenseless unborn child is a terrible wrong, yet our President sponsored the very bills that support unchecked murder of the unborn? Or how do you have a discussion with them about how our tax system is supposed to work, when the news is pouring in about our leadership cheating the tax system? How do you try to teach them fiscal responsibility when our leadership is spending us into oblivion? How do you explain to a child the need to work for the things in life you want, when our nation is making entitlements our national way of life?

No, I am not the socialist. I am the responsible parent who wants my children to stand for morality, integrity, honesty, and responsibility. It is my first job as a parent to educate my children and give them the tools they need to one day - when they reach an age of maturity and understanding - make responsible, informed, and moral choices for themselves.