In a little-noted move last week, Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee rejected an amendment to the committee rules that members spend 20 seconds reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before business begins.
With only 31 words, the Pledge of Allegiance is one of the most powerful expressions of unity among fellow Americans. Unity is in short supply in this country these days, and my Republican colleagues were correct to view the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance as one small, but important, way we could reestablish a spirit of unity.
The Democrats on the committee, however, disagree. Jerry Nadler, the chairman, said this activity is “unnecessary.” In fact, caught on a hot mic, several House Democrats further mocked the idea. The recording includes what sounds like Rep. Steve Cohen ridiculing the proposal, making the absurd comparison between saying the Pledge of Allegiance and ducking under school desks during Cold War-era bomb drills.
The real issue is not that this recitation of the pledge would waste valuable committee time, but, instead, that the pledge, both in its words and its effects, flies in the face of the progressives’ agenda.
The words “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States” instill in us, as members of Congress and as Americans, our shared duty and allegiance. That statement allows for a reorientation of priorities for all Americans, but especially for members serving in Congress, where self-serving motives often replace a devotion to the United States.
Those next words “and to the Republic, for which it stands” are worth repeating every day, as they remind us that this American experiment was thoughtfully designed as a republic, not a democracy, and to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, requires work if we hope to keep the republic and the freedoms it protects.
“One nation … indivisible” are perhaps the most problematic words for the progressives (although they are on record disagreeing with the words “under God,” of course). There is no equivocation in “one nation” or in the idea that we are “indivisible.”
We are united as a nation, with a shared history and a common purpose. The notion of one united nation runs counter to the progressive initiative of the 1619 Project, which presents national racism as an intrinsic feature of our nation. This rewriting of history posits that the United States was founded exclusively for the purpose of protecting and expanding slavery, and its message is that America is infinitely divisible along racial and political lines.
President Biden has promised to help usher in a new era of political unity, but the public is still waiting to see what that might look like in practice. The Democrats in Congress kicked off the new year with another unconstitutional impeachment of former President Donald Trump, hardly a unifying experience for the country.
After the Capitol was attacked on January 6, Democrats launched a polarizing campaign, labeling an entire Republican Party as terrorists and a threat to the safety of Congress. Speaker Nancy Pelosi solemnly told the public that the “enemy lies within” the Capitol building. She has authorized a fence to be erected around the Capitol with military troops stationed inside the razor wire. There is no threat to the Capitol today, and Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer both know it. The continued military presence sends a calculated political message for them — that their political opponents are dangerous threats to their physical safety.
The walls around the Capitol are a visible reminder that the Democrats in Congress have as little interest in political unity as they have in forging unity between the ruling class and the people. The people’s most representative branch of government, intended to be the most accessible, is now walled off from the public, removed from accountability to the people.
“With liberty and justice for all” are not mere words. Taken together, they are a call to action for us to recommit to the promise of individual liberty and to the self-evident truth that all men are created equal. It is difficult to imagine more fitting words for the Judiciary Committee to recite each day.
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Dickinson in 1801, expressed the need for national unity. “The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions, and make them one people,” he wrote.
Saying the Pledge of Allegiance is a small gesture, but maybe it would help us reach for Jefferson’s vision of the “greatest good” we can do for our nation. Surely the House Judiciary Committee could find twenty seconds before each meeting for such a goal.
Ken Buck is a Republican member of Congress from Colorado who serves on the House Judiciary Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee.
