The Pledge of Allegiance is reminiscent of the Hitler Youth or some sort of Maoist or Stalinist crap.

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Corporation, noun: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
~Ambrose Bierce

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.

~Dom Helder Camara

Businessmen have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.

~Adam Smith

Only part I agree with is... to support its Constitution, to obey its laws

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Pioneers are walking all around singing songs about Lenin and they should be shot for it.

Handlebars

"If you are looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror"- V

It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
H. L. Mencken

Beagán agus a rá go maith.

Economic Left/Right: 3.75
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -2.87

This is an excellent post. And I am not at all surprised by your feelings of patriotism. Many who immigrate here legally--as opposed to those who simply permeate our porous Southern border--express similar feelings of patriotism. Perhaps it is because those of us who were fortunate enough to be born here have a tendency to take the country for granted; whereas those who have made a conscious decision to come here have a heightened sense of appreciation for America.

As the old saying goes: May your tribe increase.

Thanks PJ. I call it like I see it.

Fair questions.

Yes, I am an American. Of course I have loyalty to this country. I've never considered, nor have I ever been offered any alternatives, really.

I look at it this way: When somebody goes out of their way to insist, at every opportunity, that he is heterosexual, doesn't it make you start to wonder who he's trying to convince?

Same with patriotism. The people that get all bent out of shape about creeds, fly flags in others faces, etc. really worry me. They act as if their loyalty, allegiance, whatever is in question. So, maybe it is. Mine, however, is not, and I resent the implication that if I don't recite stirring creeds, or Pledges, or try to out hyperpatriot others, that somehow that makes me a "bad American".

Creeds, oaths, pledges and the like are only for those that need them.

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There is no sig. There never was a sig. The sig is a lie.

Different people have different ways of relating to their country. It doesn't have to be a "one way is better than another way" thing.

When this topic comes up, it makes me think of Native Americans. It would be totally out of synch with their culture to do an equivalent of a pledge of allegiance to their tribe or talk about the subject, but they are generally an example of very intense clan allegiance.

On the other hand, when patriotism gets moved into politics, it always feels phoney to me. Some politician wrapped in an American flag with bible in hand spouting off about family values like Tom DeLay only suggests a political sociopath has found way to get votes.

One allegiance to one's country is rather assumed. I wonder if people in other countries think the amount of self-reinforcing patriotic stuff we have/do is odd. I don't recall seeing the Union Jack on every car/building when I last visited England....

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There is no sig. There never was a sig. The sig is a lie.

I am loyal to what I see as the ideals and values of the nation, not the nation. If the US became a totalitarian state tomorrow and started shipping gay people to camps to get gassed, would you still be loyal to it?

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Corporation, noun: an ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.
~Ambrose Bierce

When I feed the poor, they call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a Communist.

~Dom Helder Camara

Businessmen have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public.

~Adam Smith

Nope.

But there are those who are convinced that ANYTHING the US does must be a-ok, by default. They brook no criticism of the country in any way whatsoever. Anything remotely suggesting that the United States is possibly not the God-ordained, all-supreme best possible country ever,is obviously treasonous.

Those people scare the everlovin' crap outta me.

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There is no sig. There never was a sig. The sig is a lie.

No its says you have a right to be here, not that you deserve it. With rights come responsibilities; a concept that is sorely lacking with many.