I’m 44 and grew up in Miami. We had the regular southern patriotism mixed with the Cubans who were very friggin thankful to be living in the US (including my family!) So you better believe we all said it! But the way I saw it, my parents and grandparents left Cuba so that we wouldn’t have to do that kinda of things in school. I love my country, but it’s crazy to put your hands over your heart and pledge every single morning, not to mention that under God part that was added only a couple of decades before I even started to say it.
As a big fan of Groenig’s “Life in Hell” comic strip, I just started saying one of his versions:
I plead alignment to the flakes of the untitled snakes of a merry cow, and to the republicans, for which they scam: one nacho, underpants with licorice and jugs of wine for owls.