Maine town official refuses to stand for pledge as protest against Trump

[jpak]

Source: Bangor Daily News

A Damariscotta Planning Board member chose not to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of the board’s meeting on Monday.

In an email response to a request for comment, Shari Sage said “allegiance from a nation’s citizens is perpetually earned” and that President Donald Trump’s administration does not honor the Pledge of Allegiance, specifically the phrase “liberty and justice for all.”

“Nothing done under Trump administration honors and enacts ‘give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free’ (from ‘The New Colossus,’ a sonnet written to raise funds for the Statue of Liberty), ‘liberty and justice for all’ (from the Pledge of Allegiance), ‘land of the free’ (from the national anthem),” Sage wrote in her email. “History shows such mandatory, bully behavior of forced gestures requiring standing and/or saluting for pledges and anthems to be associated with dictatorships.”

The Nov. 13 meeting marked the first time in which the board started its meeting with the pledge.

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Read more: http://bangordailynews.com/2017/11/17/politics/maine-town-official-refuses-to-stand-for-pledge-as-protest-against-trump/

[ironman25]

1. It's about time

I am a white 64 year old steelworker and am sick beyond belief with this unwavering patriotism exhibited by most of the country. Try to study history and see all the shameful atrocities done under the shadow of the red, white & blue. Now we have an unprecedented money and power grab by the elite rich and not nearly enough outrage. "It is still the best country in the world" is the belief of the white trash who have never left it's borders. Trump is a rich sleazebag (not as rich as he wants us to believe) who is consorting with other rich sleazebags to turn this into a third world country. I hope there are enough courageous people to stand up and be heard and stop these scumbags. He demonstrates daily his lack of consideration and respect for most people and most of God's greatest gifts to us. He is a self centered blow hard who needs to be locked up at Gitmo with those in his administration.

[iluvtennis]

2. I love the stand she is taking and she's right we don't have "liberty and justice for all" .

[Grins]

3. America's "Loyalty Oath"

That's what it is. Or has become. What a dictatorship does.