“I Pledge Allegiance, to the Flag of the United States of America, and to the REPUBLIC, for which it stands, One Nation, under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All ! “

Many Americans today do not understand their Pledge of Allegiance and what making it, sincerely with their hand over their hearts, really means! This simple daily Oath has gone missing from morning dedications of many primary education systems. It’s seldom used to open official meetings of certain federal and local governmental functions anymore and as shocking as it may seem, many American youth today cannot recite it accurately from memory.

“Allegiance” is a noun in this uniquely American pledge and its import is misunderstood by those who have not accepted any allegiances in their own spiritual or national lives. It is understood (by most) that American citizens have the innate Constitutional right to think and speak as they choose. That’s what has made our Nation so unique. It’s right there in the Pledge, ”Liberty and Justice for All”.

But is that all there is to that promise, just the Liberty and Justice part? In pledging our allegiance, do we not also inherit responsibility for Duty and Fealty….or Honor and Righteousness? Can Liberty exist without the Duty our forefathers charged us with when they gave us this unique Republic; “ to Keep it, if we Can”? Can we maintain the promises of our Constitution for all, if those in power have no single Fealty to It, Us or the national best interests? Is Justice possible if there is no Honor behind the Oaths of those who dispense it? Can there be Liberty for our posterity if we have failed to be a just and righteous People and faithfully taught the blessings and duties of Liberty and Justice to the next generations? Pro players can play for ONE team at a time. That’s it. One team, One Uniform, One Loyalty. When you switch teams, you switch Allegiances in sports, completely. You leave the past connections and obligations behind. Now your loyalty is to your new Team and its members. So when you take our Pledge of Allegiance, it logically supersedes any past ones. So why do we allow those holding dual Citizenships to serve in our Governments? Whose Allegiances do they truly serve when a decision affects both countries? The meaning of ALLEGIANCE is “Loyalty or the obligation of loyalty, as to a nation, sovereign, or cause. synonym: fidelity.” If you are a decision maker in our Government, should you ever have split Allegiances?

Until the Supreme Court decided otherwise in 1967, any U.S. citizen who voted in a political election in a foreign state forfeited their U.S. citizenship. Since that decision, dual citizens have maintained their right to vote and hold public office without penalty or restrictions. Now anyone can be a dual citizen, even members of Congress, high court judges and top officials of the executive branch. There’s no law or regulation against it and they are not required to disclose it! Clearly dual citizenships create potential conflicts of interest through divided loyalties. It seems reasonable to require dual citizen members of Congress, the judiciary and the executive be required to renounce citizenship in another country as a condition of public service. Both Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Rep. Michelle Bachman (R-Minn.) received wide press coverage when they renounced their Canadian and Swiss nationalities, respectively.

But it’s a long list who still hold dual allegiance…

THE US SENATE [13]
Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) Barbara Boxer (D-CA) Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) Al Franken (D-MN) Herb Kohl (D-WI) Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) Joseph Lieberman (Independent-CT) Carl Levin (D-MI) Bernie Sanders (Independent-VT) Charles Schumer (D-NY) Ron Wyden (D-OR) Michael Bennet (D-CO)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES [27]
Gary Ackerman (D-NY) Shelley Berkley (D-NV) Howard Berman (D-CA) Eric Cantor (R-VA) David Cicilline (D-RI) Stephen Cohen (D-TN) Susan Davis (D-CA) Ted Deutch (D-FL) Eliot Engel (D-NY) Bob Filner (D-CA) Barney Frank (D-MA) Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) Jane Harman (D-CA) Steve Israel (D-NY) Sander Levin (D-MI) Nita Lowey (D-NY) Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Jared Polis (D-CO) Steve Rothman (D-NJ) Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) Adam Schiff (D-CA)  Brad Sherman (D-CA) Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) Henry Waxman (D-CA) Anthony Weiner (D-NY) John Yarmuth (D-KY)

And that’s just the democrats!

Looking back we see a creeping decline of Allegiance to the principals of America. Some congress members are radically Anti-American and stand in our sacred Capitol and rail against our most basic tenets. Tracking the decline in our system of Justice and our common Liberties: the most recent example of when leaders are not true to the basic tenets of our nation’s founding concepts is the pursuit and persecution of the participants of January 6th. Looking at the facts and the now obvious Lies of this administration, many now openly question certain leaders’ actions that day and it places a huge Question Mark on their true motivations. Was their Allegiance to our America part of that equation, or did their mixed loyalties undermine a required commitment to the morals and rules of our Nation? Did split loyalties degrade the quality of their decisions that day? In the documentary book series, The American Gulag Chronicles, prisoners of January 6th tell of the actions of bad actors and inciters of violence that day and ask similar questions about those who now openly and viciously persecute them.

When a person decides to participate in the principles and duties of governance over other Americans, there must be but one Allegiance and one alone, and that is to AMERICA. If you feel you have a gift to give the country as its Servant, then you should accept its own gift of Citizenship, reject past obligations and become a part of the American culture completely, before you can make decisions and judgements that affect those whose allegiances are totally and singularly American.

This seems to just make sense to me, a plain old senior retired American.

How about You?