----- Original Message ----- From: "Doug" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 12:46 AM Subject: Re: CD's
> Gautam Mukunda wrote: > > > > >2. An inward critical eye is all well and good but _nothing_ can be achieved > >without some level of self-confidence. The belief of the American people in > >the virtues of their system is, I think, the single most important factor in > >the continuing success of the American experiment. > > > I agree with this. > > > It is also rather > >singular, actually, as no other country in the world even approaches the > >American consensus on politics and ideology. Many books in political > >science have been written on this topic - some of them are even good. There > >is a difference between boasting and reinforcement. I differ with you, > >Doug, in that I don't see something like that as boasting at all. > > > I shouldn't have mixed in a comment about boasting with the discussion > of the pledge - I didn't really mean to infer that the pledge was boasting. > > > It's a > >critical part of forming civic character. The United States is an > >agglomeration of 300 million people bound together by _nothing_ other than a > >political ideology. Not ethnicity, not religion, not even (given the size > >of the country) geography. All we have is a common belief in the > >Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Something like the Pledge > >in schools isn't "drumming it in" - it's the bare necessity that allows the > >United States to exist. > > > So how on earth did the country excel for 170 years without it? Actually, the pledge dates back to 1892. http://www.vineyard.net/vineyard/history/pledge.htm According to this site, the pledge was inspired by socialist utopian novels, and did not include equality becasue the school superintendent who had to approve the pledge didn't believe in equality for blacks or women. Also, it was the Knights of Columbus who pushed to get "Under God" included. That is a facinating social tidbit. Dan M.
