The Flag. The Anthem. The Constitution

I do NOT pledge my allegiance to a flag.
Not the flag of the United States of America, nor any other.
I have no intention of pledging my allegiance to a scrap of cloth - a pathetic patchwork.

The flag is a symbol.
It is not the "thing".
If you piss on a flag - it does not start raining in Tuscon or Phoenix.
If you burn a flag, it doesn't set the water to boiling in Prudhoe Bay, or Anchorage.

I do not feel the need to stand and put my hand on my chest because someone starts playing "To Anacreon In Heaven" -- an old English drinking song.

If anyone joined the military because they wanted to protect a chunk of cloth, or a drinking song, then they joined for the wrong reasons, IMNSHO.  In the oath the military takes - NOWHERE is there mention of a "flag" or an "anthem" - but there sure as hell is a mention of the Constitution of the United States:

I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed ...

And that is as it should be!  The Constitution is the document that makes the United States a nation.  It spells out how we run our government, which parts of the government are responsible for which actions.  It has been "amended" twenty seven times.  It is the heart and soul of our Republic.  I will pledge my allegiance to the Constitution - flawed as it is - because IT, and ONLY IT, is worth fighting for.