Sadly, I was mistaken.
A couple days ago I got this email from a Coach at CACC concerning celebrating Constitution Day on September 17.
Constitution Day...
okay, I've never heard of this day before either, but someone here at CACC has and
******** felt that it would be a good idea if we celebrated this day by visiting the CACC flagpole and saying the Pledge of Allegiance. The A/C SGA will sponsor this event and possibly we can have one of our new young members start us all on God Bless America.
Date: September 17th
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: In front of the Administration Building, surrounding the US Flag. For
those out of touch, it's the one with Red & White stripes, and in one corner a navy
blue background with 50 stars in white. It'll come back to you when you see it.
Thanks
Needless to say, after reading that I was very disappointed. I was sure that higher education had evolved past the point of having coaches conduct any kind of educational activities that involve history or government or social studies. In high school I expect to see a coach in one of those positions. I've never understood it as most coaches I've encountered teaching those subjects wouldn't have known what the Constitution said/meant even if it was tattooed on the back of their eyelids. In this case the coach admits he had never even heard of Constitution Day. My question is why in the hell is he leading the parade around the flag pole then? I can name at least two instructors who would have been far better suited to conduct a Constitution Day gathering than this guy.
I was also astounded that the recommended way to celebrate Constitution Day was to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. The Pledge of Allegiance has absolutely nothing to do with the Constitution. It was written over 100 years later by a man named Francis Bellamy who was a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, and the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy. The original Pledge which read "I Pledge Allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all" was published in the September 8th issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day. The event was conceived by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, in a campaign to sell American flags and American nationalism to public schools.
Even scarier than the plot to sell National Socialism (NAZI Party in Germany) to American public school children is the original salute that went with the pledge. from Wikipedia
Swearing of the pledge is accompanied by a salute. An early version of the salute, adopted in 1892, was known as the Bellamy salute. It ended with the arm outstretched and the palm upwards. It eventually evolved to palm downward. Because of the similarity between the Bellamy salute and the Nazi salute, President Franklin D. Roosevelt instituted the hand-over-the-heart gesture as the salute to be rendered by civilians during the Pledge of Allegiance and the national anthem in the United States, instead of the Bellamy salute.
I'm one of those 'weird' people who thinks making children say the Pledge of Allegiance in school is wrong. It is complete government indoctrination. Making school children pledge allegiance to the government is just fundamentally wrong in so many ways. Children don't have a clue what government is or what it does and public schools certainly don't teach children the real role of government. In fact, public schools only teach what the government wants them to teach. And what does the government want them to teach? That the government is wonderful, all powerful and that no individual can exist without the government.
I'm also not down with a possible rendition of "God Bless America". I don't believe in the Christian god nor any other gods. And, for those that do believe, isn't asking God to bless America kind of selfish? It's like praying before a football game. What is being prayed for? Victory over the other team? You really think the same God that Christians believe created and controls the entire universe and everything in it has time or even interest in the outcome of a football game? Or that this country should be blessed over all the other countries in God's infinite creation?
But what really pissed me off was the coach's insulting remark at the end of the email...
Location: In front of the Administration Building, surrounding the US Flag. For those out of touch, it's the one with Red & White stripes, and in one corner a navy blue background with 50 stars in white. It'll come back to you when you see it.
WTF? How insulting can one be? Insinuating that those who might be interested in joining in a celebration of Constitution Day wouldn't know what the US flag looks like? The same flag that each and every one of those possible participants was made to pledge allegiance to for 12 years of their life in public school? Really?
This whole thing made my blood pressure go up. After I calmed down I sent the coach a reply email informing him of how fundamentally wrong he was about the Pledge of Allegiance and God Bless America being the proper way to celebrate Constitution Day. I proposed that a more proper way to celebrate it would be to have a program educating students about the Constitution, what it says, what it does, how to exercise the rights granted by it and so forth and also a discussion on how the government (both Democrats and Republicans) are destroying it each and every day. I also told him his quip about the flag was completely inappropriate and insulting. I also asked him how to go about joining the Student Government Association (SGA). He is apparently in charge of it. YIKES!
He wrote me back and acknowledged that I am better educated in this area than he is, that he hopes to see me at the flag pole and that the first SGA meeting is next Wednesday. During this meeting new members will be accepted and officers will be nominated. I plan to throw my hat into the ring for an officer position. Possibly the president of the SGA.
I also plan to attend the flag pole event. I'll be wearing my 4th Amendment t-shirt which reads...
