One Nation...... Indivisible?

Like many of our basic institutions, the Pledge of Allegiance only seems to draw our attention when there is controversy. We have all witnessed the changes in our society in the last generation. More and more our public “rituals” are scrutinized for the sake of political correctness. This faulty theory seems to be that “inclusiveness” is better than commitment and that we should not express any feeling that might offend someone else. Hence, dozens of lawsuits have been brought that insure that our public life is stripped of any association with anything that looks or sounds like a belief in something! I understand that this is the consequence of freedom- a person does not have to do something (like recite the Pledge of Allegiance) just because other people want to do so. The most recent objection to the Pledge has been that it mentions God—an offense to atheists.
Today I argue on behalf of the Pledge because it contains a word that we, as a nation, need to hear now more than ever… indivisible. The Pledge has undergone changes in the past. First penned as a recitation for a student assembly in 1892, the most recent change was in 1954 when the words “under God” were added. In every version, including the first draft, the word “indivisible” has been included. Perhaps this was still an issue less than 30 years after the Civil War. Perhaps people needed to be reminded that families had fought each other over this very principle. Now tragically I think we need to revisit that word and the idea it represents. As Lincoln said “We are now engaged in a great battle…;” I am not predicting that we are on the verge of a civil war but we are engaged in a battle in which the only victory can be to make the word “indivisible” the battle cry of both sides.
If you are like me you watch the news every day and ask “when will this all stop?” The fight over health care, the fighting over the budget, the deficient, the right, the left, blue dogs. These are all conflicts over our different visions for the future. Whatever side you are on you must affirm that this is the democratic process for better or worse. I accept that but what I can’t accept is the divisiveness that these public debates are causing. Every issue becomes “us and them” without the reminder of the “we.” There is a war going on- it is the war of words and the war of politics. It is a war that we all will lose because each day we stray further and further away from the idea that this is one country… indivisible.
We are too quickly losing sight of the things that unite us, we are being buried alive in the flood of rhetoric, attack, counterattack, and (maybe worst of all) over analysis. Take the time to consider these words that express a vision for our nation over 100 years ago… one nation, under God, indivisible.