To pledge or not to...that is the question

I think it's ironic that people are so hung up on the pledge. It was originally created by socialists. (Not that THAT matters to *me*) but for the people who cling to it, you'd think they'd learn a little about the *origin* of the phrase they cling to so much. Another interesting factoid is that the phrase "under god" wasn't even in the original pledge of allegiance. That wasn't even added until 1954. Theres a whole history of the pledge and how the original pledge was a salute that was not unlike the nazi salute. After the Nazis fell from grace the US changed their pledge to drop the salute part. Personally, I think it's kinda scary to think that this conformity in the name of patriotism is forced on children. And it seems to me that the same people who push this issue are the same people who are completely opposed to socialism, yet thats exactly the origin of the pledge and a part of its agenda. http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3296