Criticism of The Pledge of Allegiance - Other Objections

Other Objections

Some people generally oppose the pledge because the mandatory recital of what amounts to an oath, particularly by children, led by government employees in public schools, is a form of compulsory speech that is the antithesis of the liberty the flag itself represents. Specific criticisms of the pledge include the fact the country was once actually divided, hence not indivisible, and that the noble ideal of liberty and justice for all ignores and overlooks such things as the prison population, American internment camps during WWII, wrongful convictions and executions, and well-documented encroachments on First, Second, Fourth, and Eighth Amendment freedoms.

• Filmmaker Michael Moore's book Mike's Election Guide 2008 suggests that whoever wins the 2008 Election updates the pledge to a modern version. He suggests:

I pledge allegiance to the people of the United States of America, and to the republic, for which we stand, one nation, part of one world, with liberty and justice for all.