A True Patriot

by Bruce Schimmel of the Philadelphia Citypaper

November 8 - 15, 2001     

    

      I never thought of Babette Josephs, Center City’s representative to the

      state House, as a true patriot.

     

      A friend and former neighbor, I’ve seen Josephs decked out in some curious

      outfits, though never with a musket and a tricorn hat. But what the

      diminutive woman with the voice from Brooklyn recently proclaimed

      qualifies her as a true patriot, regardless of her garb and accent.

 

      What she said was no.

 

      Josephs was the only member of the state House to vote against a piece of

      legislation that would compel every child in every classroom in the

      commonwealth to recite the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag (or sing the

      national anthem in its presence), every day.

 

      That would be in every school: public, private and religious.

 

      Josephs was the sole nay in a chorus of 200 yeas, coming from politicians

      so ready to wrap us in the flag that they’ve forgotten one good reason it

      was raised in the first place: to protect the right to express differing

      beliefs.

 

      "I consider this bill insulting to the patriotic and loyal citizens of our

      state," says Josephs. Even this time of national crisis "does not give

      government the right to compel anyone to say or believe anything.

      "It is especially important to protect little children from forced

      recitations."

 

      The bill (H.B. 592) resuscitates legislation dating from 1949, where it

      should have been left to molder in history’s dustbin. It comes from the

      run-up to the age of McCarthyism, when the drive for conformity created as

      much terror as the threat of communism itself. When patriotism was

      measured by the oaths you took, however empty. When ruin awaited those who

      refused to swear allegiance.

 

      And when many true, honest patriots found the courage to say no.

      This updated bill makes only an empty gesture against forced oaths.

      Parents are permitted to write a note that would exempt their children.

      However, every school, religious or not, would be forced to put a flag and

      to conduct this ritual in every classroom, even in the unlikely event

      that every child in the class would be excused from the exercise.

 

      In compelling children to recite the pledge, lawmakers themselves are

      violating a truly sacred oath each took upon taking public office – the

      oath to defend the Constitution. To protect all of us from the tyranny of

      the majority, in which unpopular views are suppressed officially.

 

      The Pennsylvania House has passed this bill onto the Senate, where it sits

      with the education committee. I hope they will follow the lead of true

      patriots who must, from time to time, muster the courage to say no.