by Charles Murray
The people who read TheGunMag.com have many diverse backgrounds and interests. We’re farmers, ranchers, entrepreneurs, doctors, lawyers, teachers, engineers, journalists, laborers, politicians, priests and ministers, law enforcement and military, mothers and father. Yet we have many things in common. I think it is safe to say that we all cherish freedom. And, we all love our country.
It is this love of country which causes us to stand and hold our hand over our hearts when we recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Before I explain, let me admit that for many years I was troubled by the first six words of the Pledge: “I pledge allegiance to the flag….” I had done this robotically for over 40 years, without giving it much thought, until a Brit asked me why we Yanks pledged to a flag.
The dictionary says allegiance is devotion or loyalty to a person, group, or cause. The flag is not a person, group, or cause. How can someone be devoted or loyal to a piece of colored cloth? I reflected on this for some time, and decided what I was really devoted to, loyal to, was the freedom protected by our Constitution. I thought our Constitution is technically what we ought to be pledging our allegiance to. The flag does not protect our freedom. Why is it then, that we use the flag as the symbol of our nation’s greatness? By accident I found the answer in the December, 1999 issue of the American Heritage magazine.
The lead article is titled “The Image of the Century.” One of the photographs considered as depicting the 20th century’s most momentous events is Joe Rosenthal’s photo of the raising of the U.S. flag at Iwo Jima. 
The article calls this photo, and I quote, “a perfect aesthetic expression of the heroism and desperate human striving that marked the war. Rosenthal took several pictures that day of the Marines and the flag, but none of them conveyed the emotion and drama of the occasion, and they are rarely reproduced. The photograph we know is electric with suspense. The pole falters on the diagonal. Two hands reach up, clutching air, as they try to join the effort. The unfurling flag catches a breeze. We yearn for the act to be complete. It is sometimes said that this picture was reenacted or staged, which is not true. It is a genuine moment of history, caught on the wing. It would have needed an artistic genius to imagine the postures, and no genius could have posed it if he had spent a year in a studio with six gifted actors, lights, and a wind machine,” end quote.
We have all seen this photograph. It has stirred strong emotions in most of us. It was a magical moment. But the magic would not have been there if these Marines had been raising a copy of the Constitution. The flag not only represents our Constitution, but it also represents our people, our society, our culture, our land, our homes, our churches, our history, and the many men and women throughout our history who have sacrificed so much to build and protect our country.
I am no longer troubled by pledging my allegiance to the flag. And shame on the overpaid professional athletes, rebellious spoiled little punks, and even some members of Congress who now refuse to stand when the pledge is recited. They hide their shameful act behind the First Amendment, but the First Amendment does not give you the right to be subversive. Please note that “subversive” is a carefully chosen word, meaning intended to overthrow or undermine an established government. They cannot hide their true objectives with talk about freedom of speech.
Thank all of you, my friends, for standing and pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.
