Do you pledge?

I do not pledge allegiance to the flag, or any inanimate object or abstract concept for that matter. My children are learning the Pledge in school so I'm trying to talk to them about it rather than have them recite a bunch of words that really have no meaning to them...yet. One way is to talk about how and why people swear fealty to their country and their flag. We also talk about how the United States is one of only a handful of countries that recites a pledge and historically compelled school children learn it, and that it was changed, under pressure from the Knights of Columbus, to add the "under God" clause. We talk about what it means to say "under God"- whose god? why god? why then? what do the many changes to the pledge mean? why must children learn it?

I also use this, written by the amazing Bella Abzug:

I pledge allegiance to the Earth, and to the flora, fauna, and human life that it supports; one planet, indivisible, with safe air, water and soil, economic justice, equal rights and peace for all.

Or, there's this from a Genepool.com editorial:

Taken all together, the Pledge of Allegiance is a confused mish-mash of illogic, untruths, exaggerations and repetitions. And we wonder why our children lag behind so many other countries in so many educational categories. Other countries don't require their school-age kids to repeat something this confusing.

Here, then, is the Corrected Pledge of Allegiance:

I Pledge allegiance to whomever might be President of the United States at this time, and to the Republic (i.e., the United States) for which he or she was elected by what may or may not have been a majority to be in charge of, one nation under Canada, extremely divisible, with liberty within the bounds of legally acceptable behavior and justice for some.

I think I like Bella's better, but you get the point, right?