People who have not read that little thing called the Constitution...

In western Minnesota, three kids were suspended for not participating in the pledge of allegiance. That this policy existed despite the numerous court cases forbidding such forced exercises is only one frightening part of the story. It is the sheer muddied ignorance of the entire original basis of our government which should cause everyone to immediately return to the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist papers and the Constitution and begin reading. A telling statement is the mother having to justify her child not engaging in the pledge as " not being defiant against America". I am going to apply a thought experiment; replace the word America with another country's, for example, in an English colonial court in 1775 having to argue that " John Adams is not being defiant against England." It is telling that none of the participants can get past several assumptions. One is that worship of the state is a good thing, which it isn't ( read horrifying radicals like Jefferson or Madison), or that enforced rituals of patriotism ( at its very essence the true root of fascism) are legitimate. The argument then breaks down into a justification for behavior despite how bad it is. That is not the point; our entire system was founded on the principle that the state exists at our behest, not as an entity unto itself that does no wrong ( a truly fascist concept). The government we have, despite its many flaws, originated with the concept that the state was not a god, that the state derived its powers from its population, and was only a political system one participated in. It was not meant to be worshiped unto itself. That is what is happening now, however; the state and its symbols whether flags or recitations, are treated to be an object of worship. The sheer blindness of this false patriotism is best expressed in the story itself, where the community ed instructor proclaims the validity of the entire enterprise based on his serving in the military. I am sorry buddy, but you are not the only one who served, and that merely shows how blind and stupid you are. This was not meant to be a place where people blindly worshiped flags and treated the state as an arm of god, something so very against the very nature of our origins the moment it is mentioned in public the speaker should be humiliated for public stupidity. I will refer people to the original writings, as they are readily available. One very wonderful document is Washington's farewell address, really a public letter, where he warns against standing armies. Ultimately, this case is about whether the state or its people are most important. It is to be a state of its citizens, and not the the citizens of the state...