What do loyalty oaths have to do with public meetings?

Dear True,

I value and appreciate the opportunity to post anonymously to your blog. There are many reasons why I may not wish to use my own name. Most important is that my opinion would reflect on others for whom I am seen as a representative. In fact some of these sources have insisted that I not be identified in any way with their views.

So in Rhonda Silence's recent vent against anonymous blogs, I felt my hackles rising. Especially in her assertion that it takes courage to sign your name and the worst you might expect is dirty looks at the post office. No, sorry, the worst you might expect is that the causes dearest to you would be tarred with the same brush, or that you would lose your job. I have plenty of courage; I write letters criticizing the Bush administration in plain words daily and I sign my own name. This probably earns me the dubious honor of being spied upon, in my mail, email and phone calls. That is a price I am willing to pay.

But, putting my livelihood and credibility on the line in this provincial and ingrown town is another story. I need to make money here to survive but I also have to maintain a facade of Minnesota Nice in order to keep my jobs. Does that mean I have no right to put my opinions out there, on the blogosphere? I don't think so.

In fact, after reading Rhonda's comments, I feel like upping the ante.....
What does reciting a loyalty oath to god and country, hand over heart, have to do with attending a public meeting? I am referring to the Pledge of Allegiance required at the Cook County board and Lutsen board meetings.

I can't in conscience pledge loyalty to a piece of cloth (the flag) or a nation that violates my most sacred values of cooperation, consensus and humanitarian based solutions to global and domestic crises, or a god in whom I do not believe.

What does this mean? That I better not attend any county or town meetings? That I better be prepared for being cut dead by the Reds? I don't accept that. And, I don't accept that I need to sign my name to express my opinion if that act would destroy my livelihood in this benighted community.

Lezzie Latkes (yes, a pseudonym for a pro-choice Buddhist athiest Jewish lesbian radical feminist etc cetera...)