When I was growing up in school we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. If it was your lucky day you got to hold the flag while everyone else recited that. After the pledge the flag was returned to its’ holder on the end of the chalkboard. Yes, we had chalkboards. I don’t recall every having any big discussions regarding what allegiance meant, how you proved that allegiance. Allegiance, as I understood it, and still do as a matter of fact, is nothing more than a solemn promise. I support the United States of America. I believe it to be the best country in the world and I will defend my country with the same commitment as defending a member of my family! That’s what allegiance means.

Now we are having this big discussion regarding allegiance in regard to the question of birthright citizenship. To what country do you owe your allegiance? Well, the thing is this, that is a personal choice and there is no “proof” beyond your word to support that allegiance. It’s like saying you believe in God or I love you. All statements subject to what? You said so. The Pledge of Allegiance was written for a purpose. The main purpose was as a fundraiser, the purpose being to sell flags to schools to finance a magazine called the Youth Companion. That happened in 1892. The last revision to the pledge occurred in 1954 when the words, under God, were added.

All of that is just something I have to take your word for. It’s as simple as that. I can raise my hand, place my hand over my heart, place my right hand on the Bible, stand on one foot while singing God Bless America or whatever and my allegiance is the same. If my intent is to gain favor, receive some real or perceived reward or avoid any legal ramifications for any actions I may done, I would readily pledge my allegiance, at least for the moment.

You can’t codify “allegiance” anymore than you can codify morality. It is a personal thing, each of us establishing our own “code” of ethics and morality. The law is there to restrain, restrict and control us from acting in ways contrary to what the majority of the people agree in that regard. It’s illegal to just kill someone, everyone agrees on that. It’s illegal to steal from others, we all agree on that. In the end though, when all is said and done and you are standing on the witness stand, you are required to “tell the truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God.” Yes, we are asked to just take your word for it, aren’t we? But that isn’t what happens at all. Proof must be shown in order to win your case. How do you prove allegiance?

Citizenship, as a legal state, is not dependent upon allegiance. You can’t gain citizenship by simply saying, I promise, I pledge my allegiance to the United States. No, there are legal requirements, being in the country legally tops the list. If a pregnant woman enters my country illegally that baby she is carrying also enters my country illegally. Now it’s true the baby doesn’t have a choice but that isn’t the point here, that baby isn’t in my country legally.

Now when the 14th amendment was written there were children in this country that had been born in our country. Their mothers may not have entered the country of their own free will, they didn’t have that choice. The question here is, was the mother in the country legally? I’d say the answer has to be no! So, that means the baby wouldn’t be either. It was a bit of a quandary to say the least. That amendment was an attempt at reconciliation, bestowing citizenship on those mothers, fathers and children.

It wasn’t a blanket gift to just anyone that wandered into the country and had a baby. That wasn’t the intent. Those folks were under the “jurisdiction” of the government, but were now free to leave the country if they so desired. There was no requirement for them to pledge allegiance to America to gain citizenship. Everyone else is required, by law, to pledge allegiance to the United States of America and renounce any allegiances that may have to any other nations, to pledge support for the constitution and to defend America if called upon. Can new born children offer such a pledge? No, they can not.

If their parents have not done so, or demonstrated a desire to do so by entering my country illegally, I have no reason to believe they will ever have that allegiance. Those parents came here willfully breaking the law, no one forced them to come here, they weren’t “sold” into any sort of bondage. It was their choice. Should any children they have, while in my country illegally, gain instant citizenship? I don’t think that was the intent of that amendment at all. Any argument that other countries follow this policy is mute as far as I’m concerned. My allegiance is to my country. “Undocumented” is just a nice way of saying illegally present. The question to be answered is, what is documented? For me, documented means you have obtained a legal status, it may or may not be the status you want. Everyone in jail is innocent, just ask them, everyone of them will pledge to that.