Allegiance

Declaring allegiance to anything less than some form of "goodness" seems foolish to me.

For example, I may some day marry and have a wife who I love dearly. But, if she commits some heinous murder, I'm going to help any law enforcement agents as they seek to bring her to justice. This is because my ultimate allegiance is to what is good and right, not to a fallible human being.

This don't-declare-allegiance-to-fallible-humans extends to fallible systems. Any loyalty I may have to friends is subservient to an ultimate loyalty to what I feel is "right." In the same way, any loyalty I may have to my government, school, or occupation is secondary to this ultimate loyalty to "goodness."

As a consequence, I dislike the pledge of allegiance. "I pledge allegiance...to the republic...." But that republic is fallible. The human beings that make up that republic may require that I do something despicable. In such a case, I believe the right thing to do is to break that allegiance.

So, what good does it do to pledge allegiance to something fallible? Such an allegiance cannot always be maintained. In some situations, loyalty to the fallible must be broken in order to do what is right.