When Trumpists recite the Pledge of Allegiance, what meaning does it have? The pledge has always been aspirational in that its description of our republic, while rooted part in fact and part in folklore, has never reflected the reality of our country.
Today, when Trump and his supporters recite the pledge, the words are for liberals mocking, so opposite to Trump's vision, and to the reality that the poor, people of color, and even the middle class face every day of their lives.
We all know the words of the pledge:
"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of American and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
Let's start from the end: "with liberty and justice for all." For the third of our countrymen who are either poor or people of color (the poor - 12.4% or 42 million; people of color - 27% or 92 million - there is substantial overlap of the two categories), there is very little liberty and justice. And if Trump is elected it will get even worse as he has no regard for liberty and justice for all.
Liberty means having the opportunity to pursue life, to pursue your dreams. But for this segment of our citizens, there is precious little opportunity, starting from the brutal fact that they don't have true educational opportunity, and without that there is no way forward.
Justice means both justice in courts of law and social justice – that people are treated fairly, with equality. While the courts may treat the poor and people of color fairly, they experience little social justice, either in that they are treated with inequality in many forms of government action, or in the fact that the enforcers of the law - the police - do not treat them with equality. It is ironic that so many Americans – Trump supporters – complain that the government favors the poor and people of color with its largesse, whereas the truth is quite different. Yes, there are many programs that focus on these groups, but that is far from telling the whole picture.
"Indivisible." Our country is more divided, and more deeply, than at any time in our history, with the exception of the Civil War. In the past, regardless of regional or class differences, people felt we were all Americans and all came together in moments of crisis. We were able to agree to disagree.
Today, because of Trump, that is no longer the case. The two almost equally divided halves of this country do not agree to disagree. Each side feels the other is traitorous and a danger to the country's future. There is frequent talk of civil war in the future. It is only because of the strength of Mike Pence's commitment to the Constitution that this country was not plunged into a constitutional crisis on January 6, 2012, which could easily have turned violent, with military intervention.
And what meaning does "one nation under God" have? It is true that 74% of Americans report that they believe in God. But what does that mean? Even in the "born again" Evangelical heyday, when kids wore wristbands that asked, "What would Jesus do?" believers did not act as Jesus would have acted. It was a sad farce. It would unfortunately be more accurate to say that, in reality, we are a God-less nation. That money and greed rule, not God.
We are a nation that has lost its way, even the imperfect way that we achieved in the 20th century. Even before Trump, our social fabric, our social contract, was coming undone. It started with Reagan. But under Trump's influence, half the nation has become the captive of fake news (ironically they call the real news "fake"). They have become believers of the "big lie" promoted by Trump. For them, there is no commonality with liberal Americans or people of color or the poor.
Where we as a country go from here I wouldn't hazard a guess. My feeling though is that we will survive, that Trumpism will go the way of other aberrations as a new generation comes of age. I certainly hope that is the case. America was once justifiably a light to other nations and the downtrodden of the world. It was never perfect, but it was a lot better than most places on Earth.
I hope that the day comes when that is true again and the Pledge of Allegiance has regained real meaning.
