We Need an Amended Pledge of Allegiance Again

by Jeff Lichter, ©2023

(Jul. 19, 2023) — Amending the Pledge of Allegiance is not an unprecedented or trivial event. It has occurred several times previously when an improvement was created by those devoted to making it better and more powerful. What will be proposed within this article clearly adds great benefit to the Pledge because the United States Constitution is at least as worthy as, and maybe even more than, the flag for all Americans to pledge their loyalty and adherence to.

The history of the current Pledge of Allegiance can be found in this link:  https://www.thoughtco.com/pledge-of-allegiance-brief-history-3320198.

As is detailed within that reference, the Pledge was not written until 1892. It was amended in 1923, officially adopted in 1942, and amended again in 1954 to include the words “under God.” After that there were several lawsuits filed to delete those words and all were dismissed.

The amended Pledge of Allegiance being proposed herein is to add four words and change one pronoun from “it” to “they” as follows: “I pledge allegiance to the flag and to the Constitution of the United States of America and to the republic for which they stand, one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all.”

The reasons for this proposed addition include but are not limited to the following:

First, the Constitution is our founding document which established how our country is governed in detail by all three branches. We The People are affected by its implementation on our lives each and every day, whether we are aware of it or not. It took four months of daily discussion and debate between May and September of 1787 in order for the Constitutional Convention delegation to agree and draft the final version. The United States has operated under the Constitution’s seven articles, with 27 amendments passed, in the 236 years since then. It is not simply our founding document, but in a secular world some would consider it to hold the importance and reverence that the Bible has in the spiritual and religious world. In short, it is the most important document in our country other than the Bible.

Just as the flag symbolizes our patriotic loyalty, the Constitution is certainly much more than a patriotic symbol. It is the sacred operating document that binds us together as a nation and stands as the supreme and fundamental law with which all the other laws must comply. In addition, it is the Constitution, not the flag, that all federal elected officials and appointees, many state and local officials, and the military must take an oath on a Bible to protect and defend against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

Second, the Constitution has been under threat from some in our country who would be fine with just abolishing it. Others wish to operate outside of it by viewing it as a living document no longer relevant to what they see as the current needs and conditions within the country. These opponents champion the whimsical change of radical ideas from activist judges and the far left. But the vast majority of us who revere the brilliance of the Constitution as exceptional and the best document of its kind must absolutely and consistently defend it from these threats and maintain our allegiance to our sacred operating document. The founding fathers who labored, fought, and debated over it are watching from their graves and cheering us on. It must be interpreted only by what it says and what it was meant to say by those who established and ratified it. Any necessary changes required or caused by changing conditions or otherwise must be done only by the amendment process already provided for in the Constitution.

Third, by implementing this change, the Constitution will receive the full attention it deserves as part of the Republic that we are. All who recite it every day in groups throughout the country, including students and children in all our schools who are the future legislators and leaders of the country, will gain the needed and lasting reverence to defend and maintain the Constitution. Currently, these students, children, and many adults are not sufficiently educated as to this magnificent document. We must bring much more enlightenment and a lifelong commitment to them about it, not only in American classrooms but in daily life every time and wherever it is cited.

While most colleges and universities do not feature or even include instruction on the Constitution, Hillsdale College is thankfully a unique exception. They have many courses on it including “Constitution 101,” which highlights such information as the original design and purpose of the Constitution and how it might be revived in our time. The latter would certainly be achieved if the proposed additional words suggested within this article are adopted.

In reviewing this proposal, some have suggested that the proposed additional wording is unnecessary. They believe that the current wording referencing both the flag and the republic symbolically stand for the Constitution and therefore automatically include allegiance being pledged to it. That supposition is rejected not only because of the justifications recited above, but because specifically voicing the words “and to the Constitution” out loud is what gives it the power it needs and deserves to sustain it for future generations.

So, how does support for adding “and to the Constitution” to the Pledge gain the needed momentum and support it will clearly need? It must start at the local level, increase to the counties across the country, to the states and finally to Congress. If just one or two local legislative districts would start by experimentally reciting this new Pledge, it can spread to the others until it gets adopted at that county’s annual meeting. When enough counties start reciting it to include the Constitutional wording, the entire State legislatures will find themselves voting on proposed bills to make this addition. When similar bills start getting on the agendas of Congress in the House and Senate, it will have arrived nationally.