Jersey politicians demand another student pledge

Principals and politicians don’t seem to understand the law. Students do not have to recite the pledge of allegiance or probably anything that resembles a pledge. Nonetheless, the New Jersey State assembly passed a bill that will require all government school students to recite portion of the Declaration of Independence everyday.

The measure passed 50-16 and goes next to the Senate. Gov. Christie Whitman is supposedly undecided about the bill.

In addition to the Pledge of Allegiance, students would supposedly have to recite: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

The sponsor of the bill, who obviously has too much free time, said, “These two sentences are the basis of everything that America has become.” Is she familiar with the current state of this country? Citizens had freedom in the 18th and 19th centuries, but countless fascist laws and socialist regulations have devastated the 20th century.

Teenagers no longer benefit from any of the self-evident truths promoted by the Declaration. Teenagers are not considered to be equal, are stripped of their unalienable rights, and are not free to pursue happiness, especially if its after curfew or involves a six-pack. Government may in fact still be instituted among men but politicians now have unjust power to rule those who gave them the power to govern.

Despite a Supreme Court decision, which claimed that students do not have to recite the pledge, few students feel sure enough of their rights to sit quietly while other students stand. By introducing yet another daily requirement, the sponsor of the bill may be trying to further confuse students.

Those students who decide to recite the Declaration will be reminded of how far the country has strayed from its it original path of Liberty. The Declaration of Independence was a battlecry in support of freedom and against forced pledges.