During last year’s presidential campaign,^[1] The 1988 US Presidential Election between George W. Bush (R) and Michael Dukakis (D).  I watched with fascination the techniques of evasiveness on important issues.

Witnessing the incredible amount of energy involved in the political furor related to the Pledge of Allegiance in our schools,^[2] This occurred during the general election (after the primary elections were decided). As summarized in Wikipedia, “During the election, the Bush campaign sought to portray Dukakis as an unreasonable “Massachusetts liberal.” Dukakis was attacked for such positions as opposing mandatory recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in schools, and being a “card-carrying member of the ACLU” (a statement Dukakis made early in the primary campaign to appeal to liberal voters). Dukakis responded by saying that he was a “proud liberal” and that the phrase should not be a bad word in America.”  when this energy might have been better used for solving some of our major planetary and social problems such as making peace, reducing pollution, feeding the hungry, etc., it occurred to me that since the “pledge” seemed likely to stay, that perhaps we could upgrade it, add some new verses, or even promote a new “global” pledge.

Such a repeated pledge, making use of affirmations and visual imagery without promulgating any particular country or religious point of view, would support the idea of unity while embracing individual freedom.

As an elder of my community, a parent, grandparent, and psychotherapist for 45 years, it would please me for our present generation to offer this new pledge to the children of the world.