My view of the pledge of allegiance

This is a comment I left on a blog I frequent. After posting it I reflected that it's representative of my views about a touchy subject dear to the hearts of many, and thus was worthy to post in its own right.

I love my country, but to be honest I lost a lot of regard for the pledge when I discovered it was penned by a die-hard socialist flag salesman. And for the longest time I didn’t pay attention to its use of the word indivisible. Yet as a Southerner who fervently believes that Lincoln was a tyrant who did irreparable damage to the Constitution, I now recognize that “indivisible” flies right in the face of the state’s right of secession. And lastly, I read Jonah Goldberg’s book Liberal Fascism not long ago, and I became enlightened to the long history of governments using patriotism to harness and redirect the devotion of the citizens in ways that would benefit the corrupt political class.

I have reached the point where I detest my government while still loving my nation. Far too many Americans can’t seem to distinguish between the two, and in my opinion the pledge helps to further that confusion. I sincerely wish that Americans would learn and be able to recite the Bill of Rights - instead of some flag salesman’s promo bit.