In the noise following the reelection of Barack Obama one story stands out from others. Presumably upset with the outcome of the election, conservatives have bombarded the White House petition website with proposals to “peacefully grant” states to withdraw from the union.

According to the petition web site, any petition garnering more than 25,000 “signatures” will draw an official response. According to the latest signature count the State of Texas will be getting a response; Florida and Alabama are well on their way to getting a response too.

If I had to guess who is signing these petitions I imagine them to be people who proudly refer to themselves as “patriots.” They cite the Constitution and the founders with supreme (often unearned) confidence. They have the largest American flag on the block, loudly sing the national anthem at sporting events, and shout down liberals that offer even the mildest critique of American policies with chants of “USA, USA, USA.”

They are the people you hear saying things like “America: Love it or leave it!”

I also imagine them to be the people who, upon proudly reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, raise their voices at the line “UNDER GOD!” And then return to their normal voice to recite the next word:

Indivisible.

It is as if the larger meaning of the pledge is lost on those reciting it. The pledge is a civic prayer for the country, for our ability to stand together as a people, and work for our common good.

So things did not go the petition-signers’ way in the last election, and now they want to secede from the Union. To hell with the Constitution and the founders. To hell with the flag and their pledge of allegiance to it. That pledge was conditional: “I pledge allegiance only if  my country does what I think is right.”

“We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately” –Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence

Indivisible.

Citizens living in a democracy must be willing to accept that they are subject the collective decisions of the electorate. Sometimes things go your way; sometimes they do not. As a citizen in a democracy one must accept this basic premise. To do otherwise undermines the democratic bargain we struck two centuries ago. It betrays the Constitution, the founders, and the things these “patriots” claim to love.

Yes the numbers of signers to these petitions is small relative to the size of the populations in those states; but the willingness of our fellows to sign on to such proposals betrays the core concepts of the pledge:

“And to the Republic…One nation…Indivisible…With liberty and justice for all.”