Here's a little history lesson for our Teabagger friends, the Pledge of Allegiance was written by a socialist! Glenn Beck's head to explode in 3..2..1

Here's a bit of historical trivia that you won't find taught in on of those Mike Huckabee "Learn our History" videos:

Francis Bellamy (1855 - 1931), a Baptist minister, wrote the original Pledge in August 1892. He was a Christian Socialist. In his Pledge, he is expressing the ideas of his first cousin, Edward Bellamy, author of the American socialist utopian novels, Looking Backward (1888) and Equality (1897).

Francis Bellamy in his sermons and lectures and Edward Bellamy in his novels and articles described in detail how the middle class could create a planned economy with political, social and economic equality for all. The government would run a peace time economy similar to our present military industrial complex.

The Pledge was published in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion, the leading family magazine and the Reader's Digest of its day. Its owner and editor, Daniel Ford, had hired Francis in 1891 as his assistant when Francis was pressured into leaving his baptist church in Boston because of his socialist sermons. As a member of his congregation, Ford had enjoyed Francis's sermons. Ford later founded the liberal and often controversial Ford Hall Forum, located in downtown Boston.

In 1892 Francis Bellamy was also a chairman of a committee of state superintendents of education in the National Education Association. As its chairman, he prepared the program for the public schools' quadricentennial celebration for Columbus Day in 1892. He structured this public school program around a flag raising ceremony and a flag salute - his 'Pledge of Allegiance.'

His original Pledge read as follows: 'I pledge allegiance to my Flag and (to*) the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.' He considered placing the word, 'equality,' in his Pledge, but knew that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans. [ * 'to' added in October, 1892. ]

(It was not until 1954 that Congress added the words "under God" during the height of the Cold War.)

I have never been much of a fan of the pledge, in that I don't believe ANYBODY should pledge mindless allegiance to their country. To my mind we should always work to keep improving our country, and spreading freedom and acceptance for ALL of its citizens, so that it EARNS our allegiance, rather than feel the need to DEMAND it of our schoolchildren.

When I worked for the school district I often found myself quietly mouthing the words, since I could not bring myself to actually say them out loud, while making sure that I was far enough away from the kids so that they did not notice and start asking me questions which I was neither allowed nor inclined to answer.

In my mind the Pledge of Allegiance always sounded very similar to how the Whitest Kids U Know re-interpreted it.