Those who believe that it is a fitting part of the pledge... you would then be discriminating against them by denying their right of preference, wouldn't you?
And you made this point just two short paragraphs before...
I'm 29, and at no time during my school career was I 'forced' to say the pledge or recite it in precisely the form given. I can even remember any number of instances where class jokers changed the wording entirely, without consequence unless they caused too great a disturbance.
As you point out, anyone who wants to say "under God" or "under Satan" or whatever, would be quite capable of doing so. Removing "under God" from the official version of the pledge would discriminate against nobody.
Oh, and BTW, we don't live in a pure democracy. We live in a representative democracy with a Constitution and a balance of power among the governmental branches. One of the jobs of the Supreme Court is to ensure that unconstitutional laws don't stand, even if the legislative branch passed them (theoretically) with the support of the people. |
