The American's Creed and Citizenship

The American's Creed

by William Tyler Page

"I believe in the United States of America as a government of the people, by the people, for the people; whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed; a democracy in a republic; a sovereign Nation of many sovereign States; a perfect union, one and inseparable; established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes. “I therefore believe it is my duty to my country to love it, to support its Constitution, to obey its laws, to respect its flag, and to defend it against all enemies.”

NOTE: William Tyler Page, Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, wrote “The American's Creed” in 1917. It was accepted by the House on behalf of the American people on April 3, 1918.

William Tyler Page, of Friendship Heights, Maryland, gave to the citizens of his country, The American's Creed. Mr. Page described it as "a summing up, in one hundred words, of the basic principles of American political faith."

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vafccdar/darcreed.html

History of The American's Creed

by Marguerite Courtright Patton

~*~ Documented phrases in The American's Creed ~*~

•  "The United States of America." -- Preamble, Constitution of the United States.
• "A Government of the people, by the people, for the people." -- Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
• "Whose just powers are derived from the consent of the governed." -- Declaration of Independence.
• "A sovereign Nation of many sovereign States." -- Drawn from Article IV of the Constitution.
• "A perfect Union." -- Preamble to the Constitution.
• "One and inseparable." -- Daniel Webster.
• "Established upon those principles of freedom, equality, justice, and humanity for which American patriots sacrificed their lives and fortunes." -- Derived from Declaration of Independence.
• "I therefore believe it is my duty to my Country to love it." -- In substance from Edward Everett Hale's "The Man Without a Country."
• "To obey its laws." -- Compiled from Article VI, Constitution of the United States.

 I ran across this today in my search across the web. I had not, to my knowledge, EVER heard it before (of course it's been a long time since High School history classes...)

In researching this, I find the pledge of Citizenship reads:  "I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

There are caveats regarding the Citizenship pledge (for instance, you don't have to say "so help me God").  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oath_of_Allegiance_(United_States)

I wonder how irritable people would be if we recited one (or both) of these two pledges in replacement of the Pledge of Allegiance.  How many of you (us) would pick this apart as the Pledge of Allegiance is picked apart?

For instance...I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen.  Does this mean dual citizenship is prohibited? 

'I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic'  If there are enemies of our country -- within or without -- we are to defend our country above all.

'I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same'  (the Constitution).  Swear your allegiance to our country and constitution -- I dare you.  

'I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law' 2nd amendment laws are not the bad guy here.  Guns don't kill people....

'I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law'  military service is compulsory -- would you fight, and possibly die, if your country asked you to?  Or are you embarrassed by our history of people fighting for freedom?  The freedoms you have every day?
 
'take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion'  you're not coerced to be a citizen.  If you don't want to live here and follow the rules above, you don't have to.  But you don't get the 'prizes' for playing, either.

So, what does being a 'citizen' of the country mean?   Wikipedia defines Citizenship  as "the state of being a citizen of a particular social, political, or national community."   It continues, "Citizenship status, under social contract theory, carries with it both rights and responsibilities. "Active citizenship" is the philosophy that citizens should work towards the betterment of their community through economic participation, public service, volunteer work, and other such efforts to improve life for all citizens. In this vein, schools in some countries provide citizenship education."

Some of the "Benefits" of being a Citizen are:

The Right to Vote.  As far as I'm concerned if you have the ability to vote, you are obligated to vote.  Right or wrong, even if you don't know who to vote for, even if you don't like the choices, you have the OBLIGATION to vote.  If you are eligible to vote and don't register, don't complain about our country.  Don't even bother to voice an opinion.  If you don't take the time to register to have your opinion count, then you don't GET an opinion.

Bring your relatives to live with you.  You can petition for specific family members to recieve their permanent or legal residence here.  Your mother, father, siblings or spouse.  They have to qualify, but if they want to be legal, and pay taxes, great.  We need more people who really want to live here and still think the American Dream can be a reality (even though most of us think Santa Claus is more real than the American Dream).

Receive Social Security  If the program (still) exists, and they've paid into it, they should get what they put in.  I wouldn't count on it though as it's already bankrupt.

Travel at Will  This means you are a REPRESENTATIVE of the United States.  Act as you want to be remembered.  If you want to be remembered as the snobby American brat that demanded exotic foods and left cruddy tips, then so be it.  But don't expect that your former countrymen (or women) will respect you for changing your allegiance.  And don't expect they'll be grateful for the materialistic American stuff you bring with you.   This doesn't mean you get to go to other countries and bomb their people who don't agree with you.  Unless you're in our military and then we'll pay you to do it.  And then deny we even know who you are and refuse to cover your medical costs for the rest of your life. 

Responsibilities of citizens are (from http://resources.marshalladulteducation.org/citizenship.htm):

• Serving Jury Duty
• Respecting Others
• Supporting Education and Schools
• Giving back to your community
• Paying Taxes

By converse reasoning, if you are NOT an American Citizen, you should not be able to claim ANY of the benefits listed above.  And, I believe you should receive none of the unwritten benefits of

• free education (public schools)
• medical coverage & benefits (unless you pay for your own)
• property ownership
• student loans (or loans in any form held by banks on American soil)
• traveling from country to country without inspection and appropriate, correct documentation
• Gun ownership or anything allowed by 2nd Amendment rights (if you aren't a citizen, the amendments and therefore the Constitution are not yours)
• equality or justice according to the laws of this country
• freedom from deportation

If you do not pay taxes, you are not entitled to live like you do.  And this means those of you who ARE citizens and don't pay taxes, too.  I don't always agree how my tax dollars are spent.  But my responsibility as a citizen demand that I pay them as they are due and vote to change what I do not like.  Just because you don't like to do laundry, doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done.

 Yes, (as you are thinking, what a hateful person I am) I have friends that this will affect negatively.  I have a friend in the process of moving back to Mexico to join her husband as he is not able to receive his legal American Citizenship (she is an American Citizen).  I have a friend who has tried, unsuccessfully for years to gain her legal citizenship status.  Her daughter was born here; her husband has received his legal status.  For reasons, unknown to us (or her), her claims have been denied.  However, both of these friends have accepted the consequences of the rulings of citizenship.  Neither one of them is attempting to live here illegally.  They have used and, continue to use the legal form of complaint and process filings for their cases.  They are useful in their communities and in their jobs.  The participate in churches, and other community and neighborhood services.  Both of them are dedicated to this country in ways that many actual legal citizens of this country are not committed.

As a citizen, would you actually, in front of others, swear your allegiance using the words above and mean them?  Do you understand what the freedoms you have truly mean?  What they have cost others?  What they continue to cost today?  Do you comprehend that countries all over the world do not have the smallest portion of the freedoms we profess to have, yet willingly give away at the tiniest hint of struggle?