To Pledge or Not to Pledge?

[XLFD]

What can be more un-American than not standing for the pledge of allegiance, saluting the flag, and saying the pledge?  Is it perhaps trying to force someone to do so, by exacting punishments on those who refuse to perform this rite?

The Supreme Court has decided on this issue twice with two different results, and those results are given after this article of a high school's sophomore who refused to take the pledge based on his beliefs that the government has lived outside of its Constitutional directives, which he states explicitly.  While you are figuring out whether he has the right to do so, figure out whether he is a patriotic American or not, and comment below.

Mason Michalec says he loves his country but just not the government.

“I’m really tired of our government taking advantage of us,” said Michalec. “I don’t agree with the NSA spying on us. And I don’t agree with any of those Internet laws.”

That's why he's taken a pledge of sorts to not say the Pledge of Allegiance with classmates.

“I’ve basically said it from the time I was in kindergarten to earlier this year and that’s when I decided I was done saying it.”

For the most this year, his silent protest has gone unnoticed. But on Wednesday, when a different teacher observed it for the very first time, the Needville High School sophomore ran into trouble.

“And she told me this is my classroom," said Michalec. "This is the principal’s request. You’re going to stand. And I still didn’t stand and she said she was going to write me up.”

Michalec says the principal sentenced him to two days of in school suspension, and warned that he could face more ISS if his protest continued.

It’s a consequence the 15-year-old seems prepared to face.

“And I think it’s time that people do something for themselves and stop taking whatever’s handed to them," said Michalec. "I’m angry and frustrated and annoyed that they would try to write me up for something I have the right to do.”

According to KHOU 11 News legal expert attorney Gerald Treece, the sanctions imposed by the school appear to violate Michalec’s first amendment rights.

Officials with the school district could not be reached for comment

http://www.khou.com/news/local/Boy-punished-at-school-for-refusing-...

Since 1943, the law has been clear that public school students cannot be forced to recite or otherwise participate in the Pledge of Allegiance against their will. In the case West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court found that the right to remain silent during the Pledge of Allegiance stems from the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Just as the First Amendment protects our right to express our beliefs, it prohibits the government from compelling us to declare a belief that we do not hold.

As the Barnette court wrote, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.  The ruling reversed a previous finding made three years earlier by that same court in Minersville School District v. Gobitis.  Both court actions were raised by members of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Jehovah's Witnesses believed that saying a pledge of allegiance to a flag was forbidden by the Ten Commandments. They also wanted to show their solidarity with fellow believers in Germany who had refused to give a salute similar to the "Heil Hitler" arm extension there.  Early on, the pledge of allegiance did not have the familiar hand on the heart motion we do now, but what the kids are doing above, as noted in this former Torch article.

[Willy]

His teacher and school could be in big trouble. This kids decision to not recite the pledge has already been ruled on by the Supreme Court. "West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States holding that the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Cons... protected students from being forced to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance in school. The Court's 6-3 opinion, delivered by Justice Robert H. Jackson, is remembered for its forceful defense of free speech and constitutional rights generally as being placed "beyond the reach of majorities and officials."

I especially agree with the kid because of his reasoning. What he professes is something we all should consider.