Practice What You Preach

Yesterday, House Republicans organized what they called a "House Call" on Congress to rally protesters who were on Capitol Hill to protest the proposed Democratic Health Care Reform bill. With the expected shouts and signs calling anything other than Republican ideals as socialist or foolhardy, the spirit was one of anger though often peppered with moments of gosh-darn patriotism that called for the flight of an eagle around the flag as Republican leaders stood on the steps and called for American's to 'take back' their country. As far as I know, no one has 'taken' the country anywhere but I still see the point that many of the are trying to make. But be that as it may, not only were Republicans seeking to rally opposition to the proposed Democratic health care reform bill (which projects to insure 36 million versus the 3 million the Republican plan seeks to insure) but they were looking to build upon the recent victories in Gubernatorial elections where Republicans took back control in Virginia and New Jersey.

One way in which they hoped to do that was to not only focus on where they stood on their Health Care proposal but also on the ideals of their party. Now while some Republicans are becoming a little wary of staunchly labeling themselves or projecting the image of being a savior of conservative idealism, some of them do not shy away from that at all. Take for example Representative Todd Akin of Missouri. He's been working hard to restore the Pledge of Allegiance to schools around the nation. Currently it isn't a requirement in every state in the Union and Akin (among others) feels that it should be. The point of protest in some states is the inclusion of the phrase, "under God" which was added after being proposed by Louis Bowman in 1954. His rationale being that the phrase came from the Gettysburg Address and that it also held significance in that it exemplified the spirit of the nation.

Now I've grown up as a Hindu and every year I was in school I recited the Pledge of Allegiance before starting the school day. Never once in those 12 years did I wonder what religion I was supposedly being exposed to. I didn't even think of it in those terms. However shortly after the phrase was adopted, many people began objecting to it and some of the earliest protests didn't come from other religions but from Christians themselves. Jehovah's Witnesses protested stating that their religious beliefs preclude them from pledging allegiance to anyone but God. Though that protest didn't affect a change on the pledge, various protests did continue in some form or another for decades to come. Finally in the early 21st Century it came to a head.

Following the rise in patriotism after the attacks of 9/11, many Congressional and State leaders including Todd Akin began working to restore the Pledge so that our students could reinforce their patriotic ideals on a daily basis. The problem with this was that many still felt uncomfortable with the inclusion of the word God in the pledge. Now again, as I've stated many times, my religious beliefs are rooted deeply enough that even if I say the Lord's Prayer or read verses from the Torah or the Koran, my belief in my religion will not be affected. But unfortunately not everyone thinks that way. And to reinforce the belief that the words "under God" are important and "to drive Liberals crazy", Todd Akin decided to recite the Pledge of Allegiance on the Hill before his peers and gathered protestors and asked everyone to join in.

Now before beginning the Pledge he gave a brief history on the Pledge and the words and why they are important. He made reference to Bowman and the Gettysburg Address and then proceeded to lead the group. Now I have said the pledge so many times that you could wake me up from a deep slumber and ask me to say it and I would say it with no problems. I expected no less from Akin as he has been so staunchly in favor of reinstituting the 'whole pledge' back into schools that he should know it even better than me. So when he got to the part of "under God" he shouted it as if he were saying it from the mountaintops. The only problem was that he then proceeded to screw up the rest of it.

To me, the final portion of the Pledge is the most important. "One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all." That's the final phrase and Akin skipped the 'indivisible' part. Perhaps it was a Freudian slip where he revealed his true feelings towards that portion of the pledge. Maybe he feels deep down that the nation truly is divided between the God loving and the God hating. Maybe in his haste to prove that liberals truly are a group of God-hating people he needed to shout "under God" but then forget the rest. In recalling the Gettysburg Address origins of the phrase isn't the term "indivisible" also equally (if not more so) important? If it weren't for the Civil War our nation well and truly could have been divided. I think that final phrase (with or without "God") is what our nation stands for.

Whether to include "under God" in the actual Pledge or not is something I could really care less about. I'm pledging my allegiance to my country to which I am a loyal and patriotic citizen. I know that in my heart so whether I include God in the pledge or not it still stands. But what I feel is that for someone like Akin who claims to be a proponent of what the Pledge stands for and has been working since 2004 to pass his Pledge of Allegiance Bill in Congress, that he would know the pledge better than anyone else. But for him to screw it up on such a national stage leads me to believe that he and many of our other leaders on Congress are full of nothing but hot air. If you well and truly believe in the words of the pledge then you should know them; he didn't seem to realize it until he heard his compatriots say the word "indivisible". Some way to 'lead by example'. If that's the example then I pity the people he is attempting to lead.