Pubdate: Fri, 05 Jul 2002
Source: Arkansas Times (AR)
Copyright: 2002 Arkansas Times Inc.
Contact:  http://www.arktimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/583

OVERREACTION

Bipartisan excess prevailed after a federal court said the Pledge of 
Allegiance should be restored to its original form if schoolchildren are 
required to recite it. Congress interrupted serious business to bash some 
judges.

Here in Arkansas, Gov. Mike Huckabee called the decision "One of the 
craziest pieces of nonsense that ever came out of a group of kooks in black 
robes." His opponent in the governor's race, state Treasurer Jimmie Lou 
Fisher, found the ruling "shocking" and "deeply disturbing." Sen. Tim 
Hutchinson and his opponent, Attorney General Mark Pryor, were united in 
horror.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln chose "absurd" as the adjective du jour. Reps. Mike 
Ross and Marion Berry and would-be Rep. Jay Dickey fulminated likewise.

This because a three-judge panel ordered the removal of two words, "under 
God," that weren't even in the pledge until Congress inserted them in 1954, 
at the urging of the Knights of Columbus. The pledge was first published in 
1892 in a youth magazine, now long-dead, as part of a private company's 
strategy to sell flags.

Easily recitable, the pledge was eventually institutionalized as a sort of 
loyalty oath for children.

Generations of Americans recited the pledge without the religious 
reference, and grew up to be no more or less patriotic or religious than 
Americans before or since.

God did not petition for inclusion, and, we suspect, remains indifferent to 
this day. In any event, He's big enough to look out for Himself. The kids 
are the ones who need protection, and two other judicial decisions last 
week are far greater dangers to them. Both rulings came from a radical 
majority of the Supreme Court (which, incidentally, will overturn the 
Pledge of Allegiance decision, unless a lower court does it first).

By allowing public money to go to church schools, in the form of vouchers, 
the court undermines the public-school system that has always been the best 
hope for advancement for middle- and lower-income Americans. It also 
invites the sort of holy warfare that people historically have come to this 
country to avoid.

The Middle East, Northern Ireland, India-Pakistan - they should be copying 
us, not the other way around.

Give Huckabee credit on this one: He resists vouchers, a reminder that for 
all his faults, he practices about as much moderation as his party will 
permit, dominated as it is by the Bush-Ashcroft faction.

In another 5-4 vote, the Supreme Court authorized mandatory drug testing 
for all students who participate in extracurricular activities: Pee to 
play. The best that can be said of this decision is that it does not 
require that local schools impose random drug testing. But many already do 
so, and more will now that the Court has given its blessing.

Some of our most intelligent and idealistic young people will have to give 
up the band and the drama club and the honor society to avoid an insulting 
and unwarranted invasion of privacy.

The sacrifice will prove their patriotism better than reciting the Pledge 
of Allegiance ever could.

Valuing freedom is the essence of being an American.
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MAP posted-by: Beth