“I was sad,” said parent Briana Reese. “The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said ‘Everybody rise,’ and we rose, and I thought for just a second ‘Oh yeah, we’re going to put our hands on our hearts and we’re going to salute the flag’ – but no.”

Reese had heard that the principal planned to take the pledge out of the ceremony.

“I think that’s what they should be doing – telling kids you should be pledging your allegiance to this country,” Reese said. “This is a great country. You’re here for a reason.”

The pledge was instead replaced with a singing version of the preamble to the Constitution.

Kudos to the principal for getting it. The pledge is nothing more than a blind loyalty oath to a piece of cloth that symbolizes a nation. And thanks to tinkering over the years, it’s been turned into a form of state-mandated prayer. At least this kids are being exposed to the idea that the United States is a nation governed by laws and that the people have rights.

Conservatives and liberals like the pledge, but don’t have really warm feelings for the Constitution because, when properly followed, it tends to get in the way of whatever flavor of Nanny State nonsense they want to foist on the public.