How many things do you have memorized? Do you know the pledge of allegiance by heart? Can you sing along with the Star Spangled Banner? Do you even know your own phone number? What we want to create is a pledge that speaks to who we are as a nation. Something that some of us may only say once in our lives with conviction while others may recite every 4th of July. Something that the patriots amongst us will commit to memory.
The pledge of allegiance is 5 lines and our national anthem is 8 lines. Our Declaration of Independence is over 50 lines. We’re thinking that something in between all these would work for the Pledge of America. Long enough to articulate deep meaning but not too long.
Why now?
At some point we looked at some of our “fellow Americans” and realized that we had nothing in common with them. Nothing. Zero. They didn’t seem like they were from another country. They seemed like they were from another planet! They wanted to fundamentally transform America and we didn’t. We realized that compromising with them wasn’t an option. They had completely different goals for our country. They don’t want borders. They don’t want to defend our country from enemies. They don’t want to provide a better life for Americans. Some of them believe the world would be better off without people in it! What’s the point of the world without people?
We started asking what makes a country? More specifically what makes OUR country? Besides freedom, what values make America, America. It’s not just baseball and apple pie. What are we willing to fight for? What VALUES are we willing to fight for? What VALUES are we willing to RISK our lives for? The Pledge of America has those values.
We also realized that there are people all over the world that actually share our values and our priorities. They share our worldview. They love America and they don’t even live here. They would give anything to come here. They understand what we have is special and why it’s special. They understand American values better than many Americans. In many ways we have more in common with them than we do with our crazy neighbor. The Pledge of America is available to anyone willing to say it. No matter where you live on this planet, American Values are here for you. We can unite people from all over the world around these wonderful values.
Great stuff