Cheer Tossing of Pledge of Allegiance

Three cheers for the 9th Circuit 2 to 1 decision throwing out the fascist, religious Pledge of Allegiance as it clearly violates the Constitutionally-mandated separation of Church and State with its "under god" addition by Congress in 1954 during the last fascist era. While this decision will probably be overturned, we must loudly and clearly applaud this outstanding decision so as to make possible the day, sooner rather than later, that this decision will be a permanent decision.

Those of you who are participating in the March for the Bill of Rights in San Francisco and Los Angeles on June 28 and in Washington, DC on June 29 should add this victory to your signs as being the kind of legal action that is needed to oppose the Gestapo currently being built by George War Bush and his rubber-stamp jingoist Congress, which have denounced this excellent decision. The US Senate voted 99 to 0 for a resolution condemning this decision (that is, the resolution supports the current Pledge of Allegiance) which simply upholds the Bill of Rights, and there was no support expressed by the House for this decision. These jingoists have joined such reactionaries as Phyllis Schalfly, the fascist anti-abortion, anti-gay crusader, in condemning this decision. Schalfly outright lied when she stated today the Constitution says nothing about separating church and state, when clearly the First Amendment, with its express statement that we have freedom from religion, written by the atheist Thomas Jefferson, mandates separation of Church and State.

PLEASE DO NOT VOTE FOR ANY INCUMBENTS. All of the House and 1/3 of the Senate is up for election this November and since they have all demonstrated their contempt for their oath of office to uphold the Constitution in their support of this illegal and reactionary Pledge of Allegiance, and have instead demonstrated total fealty to George War Bush, his Gestapo and his endless wars, they should never receive your vote. Either skip those positions or run for office yourself. Stop voting for these evil people. They are not the "lesser evil;" they are just plain evil.

Much can be learned from this breath of fresh air in these reactionary times. The writer of the majority opinion, Circuit Judge Alfred T. Goodwin, was a Nixon appointee. The writer of the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, legalizing abortion in 1973, was also a Nixon appointee, Justice Blackmun. As we know, Richard Nixon was considered another Hitler and his appointments were considered conservative. However, we had a mass movements against the Vietnam War from 1964 to 1975, preceded by a civil rights movement from 1939 to 1965. It was the progressive momentum of these two movements that made possible many positive legal changes, such as Brown v. The Board of Education in 1954, mandating integrated schools, the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and the overturning of the sodomy statutes in many states, including in California in 1975, which overturning made homosexuality legal.

Most importantly, the many street demonstrations, sit-ins, petitions, running for office on peace platforms and all other political activity for peace and civil rights, created an atmosphere that defeated the worst of the horrifying anti-Communist hysteria of 1945-1965. Since this is a capitalist society, there is still plenty of anti-communism, but the worst is gone, and it must never return. That is why we must cheer this Court decision for as long as it lasts and continue to fight the Gestapo terror George War Bush and his rubber stamp Congress are trying to promote.

If you are able, please attend the March for the Bill of Rights in San Francisco on June 28, 2002, from Powell and Market, starting with a rally at 5 p.m. and then a march at 6 p.m. to the federal building at 450 Golden Gate. See http://www.iacenter.org and http://www.internationalanswer.org

We should act like we are the majority, because we are. George War Bush received no support at the latest capitalist leaders' conference in Calgary, Canada this week for his policies promoting Israel and opposing Palestine. The United States has no support for its proposed war to conquer Iraq's oil fields. Michael Moore's anti-George Bush book, "Stupid White Men, etc." is Number 1 on the US bestseller list and has been at or near the top of that list for the past 16 weeks! In the Bay Area, Moore's book is also No. 1, and has been at or near (mostly at) the top of that list for the past 17 weeks, often followed closely with Greg Palast's book describing Bush's election fraud, The Best Democracy Money Can Buy, which is now 2nd in the Bay Area and has been on the Bay Area bestseller's list for a total of 8 weeks.

Thus, it is clear that people are telling the pollsters what they think the pollsters want to hear, that is "patriotism," when they say they support Bush in the majority, when clearly most Americans do not support Bush. We know one thing for sure, most Americans are not receiving any economic benefit from a budget that puts guns before butter. In fact, we have serious unemployment, a major housing shortage, a terrible school system, a declining and expensive public transportation system to the extent one exists and no national health care system. Thus, no matter what the official polls state, Bush's war regime is not delivering the goods and services to most of us, and thus has no support.

Sing, cheer, laugh, dance, hug each other for this wonderful victory from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals tossing out the Pledge of Allegiance for it is a victory of our many peace and civil rights movements, and the labor movement of the 1930s and 1940s, which made possible the later movements. Unlike the 1950s, Bush does not have relative economic prosperity to bolster support. He has a declining economy and everything he and his rubber stamp Congress do to promote war and fascism only increases the decline, and thus lack of support for their actions. We must all cheer this victory and keep fighting!