June 26, 2002
One Nation, Undereducated
In case you haven't heard, a West Coast appeals court ruled that the Pledge of Allegiance was unConstitutional because of the phrase "under God", inserted at the height of '50s anti-Communist mouthfoaming. And, as you would expect when the principles of the First Amendment and the separation of church and state are called into question, we look to our nation's lawmakers for careful, measured debate of the issues.
Ari Fleischer says that George W. Bush thinks the ruling is "ridiculous."
Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) choked out, "This decision is just nuts."
Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) frothed, "this is the worst kind of political correctness run amok."
Senator Joe Lieberman (D-CT) sputtered, "There may have been a more senseless, ridiculous decision issued by a court at some time, but I don't remember it."
There you have it - the kind of rational, thoughtful analysis you can only get from the halls of Congress.
In the meantime, here's a modest proposal to keep everyone in schools equally tense and p.o.ed. Put a big wheel in each classroom and spin it before the Pledge every morning. Maybe on Monday the kids say "one nation, under God." On Tuesday, they may say "one nation under Vishnu." Wednesday: "one nation under the Great Spirit Mother." Thursday: skip the pledge and do a Hopi harvest dance.
Then on Friday, maybe the wheel comes up to "end this silliness and spend the extra 45 seconds actually learning something, instead of rote recitation of something that 8-year-olds take about as solemnly as the Commissioner's warning not to rebroadcast baseball games."
Posted by michaelf at June 26, 2002 09:37 PMComments
Yeah. What you said. I, like, agree and stuff.
(the above comment brought to you by the product of an American public school education)
: )
Posted by: Shannon at June 30, 2002 12:55 AM
