ABSTRACT
In the large back room of a popular restaurant, 30 members of the Patriots2 stand and face the Àag to recite the Pledge of Allegiance before starting their monthly meeting. They have just shared their outrage that President Obama omitted the words, “endowed by their Creator,” when he quoted the Declaration of Independence earlier in the week. Now we place our hands over our hearts and our voices merge as we recite from memory words I have not called forth in years. When we get to the phrase, “under God, indivisible,” people shout-a small act of resistance against what they see as the steady erosion of core American values. As she calls the meeting to order, Linda, the Patriots’ founder and leader, directs us to a handout. She has broken The Preamble down into seven segments, with commentary on each piece, followed by discussion questions. She asks if anyone can recite it by heart, as she had to do when she was in school. Everyone laughs as Pete, who is in his late sixties, races through the long memorized words, his eyes pinched closed to show he is not reading it from the paper. When he ¿nishes, he takes a dramatic breath and smiles, “I guess I still remember it!” Now Linda turns to John, a longhaired mechanic in his late twenties, and asks him to read the ¿rst passage aloud. He begins, “We the People of the United States….”
