[Vision2020] City Council and the Pledge

[Donovan Arnold]

"Donovan,
  I  strongly disagree with you. In my opinion it is a waste of time for our  elected officials to spend their time on so trivial a matter as the  flag pledge when at most of the meetings I've  attended time has  been at a premium."
  
  Don, 
  
 Sorry, but that is just  lame. Honestly, if teachers have time to say the 15 second pledge  everyday, as does the county, state, and federal governments, I am sure  our ever urgent council members can squeeze it into their schedules  twice a month.
  
 The reality is that the  "time  issue"  of  banning the  pledge  is  simply an  excuse for those members of the council that disagree with saying the  pledge(or some aspect of it). And rather then sitting there and not  saying it, they just banned everyone from saying it.
  
 I have  never ever heard the argument, other than from John Dickinson, that not  saying the pledge saves valuable time. That is just insane. Sorry, I am  not so dumb to take that bait.
  
  What they are doing is disrespectful to our country. It deserves 15 seconds of attention before bi monthly meetings.
  
  _DJA
   


DonaldH675 at aol.com wrote:          Donovan,
  I  strongly disagree with you. In my opinion it is a waste of time for our  elected officials to spend their time on so trivial a matter as the  flag pledge when at most of the meetings I've  attended time has  been at a premium. 
  Granted other people attach more  importance to such rituals than I do. I spent 20 years in the Marine  Corps, 12 of them as an infantry officer, and I suspect I have as much  respect for our flag as anyone on the list. I cringe to see it flown  disrespectfully from the antenna of a pickup truck, or on a jacket or  pair of jeans, or tatooed on someone's arm, leg, or less visible place,  and so on and so on.
  But realistically, pledges and oaths  are meaningless as professions of loyalty and even less meaningful to  attempt to keep unworthy (by whatever description) persons from places  of public trust. You can bet that Aldridge Ames had no reservations  whatsoever about saying the pledge or taking oaths. I bet even the 9/11  hijackers said the pledge in their flight schools if it was recited  there and would have taken any oath required in order to deceive or  confuse their opponents. 
  So we each have our own reasons  for wanting or not wanting certain actions taken or not taken. Let's  not identify those who disagree with us with the issues themselves and  consequently lose our perspective on the issues. 
   
  Don   Huskey

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight   you, then you win." Mahatma Gandhi



			
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