Via the Phoenix NewTimes, we learn that Arizona teenagers may soon have to intone the following if they want to graduate from (a public) high school:
I, (state your name), do solemnly swear 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; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge these duties; so help me God.
A separate bill will require students to say the Pledge of Allegiance—currently optional—each day unless a parent writes a letter to the school explaining that their kid hates Jesus or America or both.
In completely unrelated news, some Venezuelans chose to recite a rather more pointed loyalty oath earlier this month:
I swear by the Bolivarian constitution that I will defend the presidency of Comandante Chavez in the street with reason, with truth and with the strength and intelligence of a people who have been liberated from the yoke of the bourgeoisie.
Reason's own J.D. Tuccille disparages another creepy pledge from Marlboro Township, New Jersey, here.
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