Texas seeks oath of allegiance from youths

[HereSince1628]

Part of me thinks this is laughably absurd, and I can quip about the next requirement for teachers to wear brown shirts and neocon arm bands...

But recently I read another DU'er's signature that included a quote from Voltaire that went something like...if you can convince people to believe the absurd you can get them to commit autrocities... Which is a pretty sobering thought.

Consequently another part of me wonders how closely Texas' need for loyalty in its school kids parallels similar school based "patriotism" youth movements in Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany.

While my long term memory reminded me of my own school-day lessons of how, at the beginning of the Civil War, many military officers placed their allegiance to their state above the duty to their uniforms.

(BTW, I have a graduate degree from Texas A&M, I appreciate Texan's love of their past and how close to the present they hold their history as an independent nation.)




http://www.statesman.com/metrostate/content/metro/081803/0818texaspledge.html

[Divernan]

1. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Borough of Punxatawney,

and to the Groundhog for which it stands. . . .
or maybe
I pledge allegiance to the housing development of Rustic Acres, and to the Builder who made a bundle off of it. . .

[realFedUp]

2. Texas seems to be experiencing a brownout lately...

.