A new Pledge of Allegiance for the New Year

Today Bernd and I had just finished walking through a castle built (the first time) about 900 years ago, and we were headed down the river valley back to his parents' house when the conversation somehow came around to the American custom of saying the Pledge of Allegiance in schools every morning. I personally disagree strongly with the custom, and most people I've known from other countries find it disconcertingly indoctrinating; people from countries with dictators in their recent history have told me that it reminds them of the propaganda and brain-washing techniques used to keep the populace subdued. If you've not been in a school for a while, it might surprise you too to see it -- even in the hallway people walking will freeze, assume a formal position (hand over heart) and stare up at the nearest flag or the blank wall on the other side of it before solemnly chanting the folowing phrases:

I pledge allegiance to the flag
Of the United States of America
And to the Republic for which it stands:
One nation
Under God
With liberty and justice for all.

My primary objection is that it's firstly a promise to remain loyal to a symbol and a symbol is objectively meaningless, which makes its connotations variable and temporally weak. Swearing lifelong loyalty to a nation (which is obviously the intent of making kids repeat this statement 5 days of every seven, 9 months of every 12, for 12 years) is a very dangerous act too -- Martin Luther King Jr. stated beautifully that it is our moral obligation to defy those laws which are unjust, so promising to eternally support a human institution implies obeying the corrupt as faithfully as the wise, and blindly following the malevolent into their cruelty just as quickly as the kind into their generosity. The Nazi Reich is an excellent example of why this is such a bad idea -- few Americans remember (or ever knew) that Hitler was elected democratically before his power crept into the bitterest and most dangerous insanity, and the progression was slow enough that the normal people (possibly kindhearted, possibly intellengent, precisely like you in your humanity) simply went on promising loyalty, went on following and supporting the system they'd chosen as it slowly descended into treachery.

I decided to compose a pledge I could support, though of course I disapprove of asking people to mindlessly repeat any statement, whether or not they agree with it, without asking them to evaluate it for themselves first. The rhythm leaves something to be desired but I think I'm fairly satisfied with the ideas. Here's my version:

I pledge allegiance to the ideals
Of the United States of America:
To think before believing,
To consider all consequences,
And to act -- today --
With kindness and respect for all.

By ideals I mean the standards of behavior that allowed our nation's foundation to be as strong and benevolent as it originally was, not -- clearly -- the underlying principles of the choices we make now.

There, then, is my pledge for the new year -- my New Year's Resolution -- and if you do me the favor of holding me accountable for my promise, I will thank you. To think before believing, consider all consequences, and to act -- every day -- with kindness and respect for all.

Happy new year!