I would love it if students in grade school learned that the writer of the pledge was a socialist.
" Lost in the public dispute is any understanding of what its author, Francis Bellamy, was trying to accomplish—or its relevance for today. Bellamy, a Baptist minister, wrote the pledge in 1892 during the Gilded Age, when reformers were outraged by the behavior of corporate robber barons who were exploiting workers, gouging consumers and corrupting politics with their money. Bellamy was a leading Christian socialist who hoped that the pledge, and especially the line "one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all," would promote a more egalitarian vision.
Bellamy's view that unbridled capitalism, materialism and individualism betrayed America's promise was widely shared in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many American radicals and progressive reformers proudly asserted their patriotism. To them, the U.S. stood for basic democratic values: economic and social equality, mass participation in politics, free speech and civil liberties, elimination of the second-class citizenship of women and racial minorities, a welcome mat for the world's oppressed people.
Most Americans are unaware that much of our patriotic culture—including many of the symbols and songs that have become increasingly popular since Sept. 11—were created by writers of decidedly left-wing sympathies.
Consider Emma Lazarus' words, written in 1883 and inscribed on the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor / Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." She was a well-respected poet, a strong supporter of Henry George's "socialistic" single-tax program and a friend of William Morris, a leading British socialist. Her welcome to the "wretched refuse" of the Earth was meant to project an inclusive and egalitarian definition of the American dream.
The words to "America the Beautiful" were written in 1893 by Katherine Lee Bates, a professor of English at Wellesley College. Bates was a poet and a lesbian whose book "America the Beautiful and Other Poems" expressed outrage over U.S. imperialism in the Philippines. She was part of progressive reform circles in the Boston area concerned about labor rights, urban slums and women's suffrage. The poem's final line—"and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea"—is an appeal for social justice.
Many Americans consider Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land," penned in 1940, to be our unofficial national anthem. Guthrie was inspired to write it as an answer to Irving Berlin's popular "God Bless America," which he thought failed to recognize that America belonged to "the people." The lyrics reflect Guthrie's fusion of patriotism and support for the underdog. He celebrates the nation's natural beauty and bounty but criticizes the country for its failure to share its riches, reflected in the song's last and least-known verse: "One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple / By the relief office I saw my people. / As they stood hungry I stood there wondering / If this land was made for you and me?" "
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/pledge.htmAnother famous socialist, Helen Keller, helped found the ACLU. They should teach that in schools, also.
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