‘Pledge Issue Reveals Rift of America’s View of Itself’

I read with interest Kesler’s column, and I must admit that I felt a great sense of relief that the Pledge of Allegiance issue is not behind us, and that if I hurry, I can put forth my views before it dies forever.

The focus is truly on the wrong group. The bill that caused all of this debate only refers to teachers and students. After years of leading the pledge, I doubt that many teachers even know what they are saying each morning. Repetitious recitations become numbing. As for the students, we all know the attention span of a child, and besides, we have never questioned their patriotism. They are entirely too young to have formed bad voting habits.

The group we should be aiming at is the adult population of America--those who don’t appreciate our freedoms. I therefore support a national referendum calling for a mandatory Pledge of Allegiance at every public and private meeting in the great U.S. of A. This would include Congress, state and local agencies, ball games, local association meetings, etc. This would accomplish the following:

1. Root out all of the liberal subversives hiding in our community. We all know they won’t say the pledge, and we can publicly expose them.

2. Expose the ACLU for the Commie organization it is and see if it fights this as an infringement of our civil rights.

3. Show to the rest of the world that we really love our country. Since no other country seems to place this type of emphasis on a pledge of allegiance, maybe our example will spread across the globe.

Now how about enforcement. I foresee a pledge czar, a cabinet post with the responsibility of prosecuting each citizen who ignores this law. We will ask for $1 billion to start out, and of course have an 800 number to call and report on our friends and neighbors.

Now all we need is a grass-root movement to implement my idea. How about it America?

JEANNE RAY

Fallbrook