03/13/2014 09:00 AM Senate STATE AFFAIRS

                  SJR 26-PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
9:30:12 AM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DYSON called the committee  back to order and announced the                                                               
consideration of SJR 26.                                                                                                        
                                                                                                                                
9:30:22 AM                                                                                                                    
RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff, Senator  Coghill, Alaska State Legislature,                                                               
Juneau,  Alaska,  informed  the  committee   that  SJR  26  is  a                                                               
resolution recognizing June  14, 2014 as the  60th anniversary of                                                               
the  first recital  of  the United  States  Pledge of  Allegiance                                                               
(USPA) with  the words "under  God." She continued to  provide an                                                               
overview of SJR 26 as follows:                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                                
     In  the   last  year,  39  other   states  have  passed                                                                    
     resolutions recognizing  February 4,  2014 as  the 60th                                                                    
     anniversary   of  the   introduction  of   House  Joint                                                                    
     Resolution  243,  which  is  the  resolution  that  was                                                                    
     signed  by  President  Eisenhower and  included  "under                                                                    
     God" in the USPA.                                                                                                          
                                                                                                                                
     It is  true that the  original pledge was written  by a                                                                    
     minister in  1892 and the  pledge was an  allegiance to                                                                    
     "my Flag" and it was his  hope that it would be used by                                                                    
     all nations to recognize  their countries. But in 1923,                                                                    
     the words "The Flag of  the United States" was added to                                                                    
     the  pledge  to  make  it   more  personal  to  people,                                                                    
     pledging  allegiance  to  the United  States  and  that                                                                    
     change was  made at the National  Flag Conference under                                                                    
     the  leadership   of  the   American  Legion   and  the                                                                    
     Daughters of the American Revolution.  It was not until                                                                    
     1954 that Congress incorporated  what was viewed as the                                                                    
     missing-link  to the  USPA  and  this missing-link  was                                                                    
     recognized by Homer Ferguson when  he heard a sermon in                                                                    
     church that quoted the  Gettysburg Address when Lincoln                                                                    
     referred to  a nation under  God, so he  introduced SJR
  and   it  was   passed  and  signed   by  President                                                                    
     Eisenhower on  June 14  in 1954, so  this would  be the                                                                    
     60th  anniversary of  the signing  and right  after the                                                                    
     signing  the group  recited the  USPA  using the  words                                                                    
     "under God."                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                                
     What I wanted  to point out was that the  USPA is not a                                                                    
     mundane verse that we recite,  because we learned it in                                                                    
     school and  we recited  it every day  in school.  To me                                                                    
     the USPA  reminds that we  live in a country  that does                                                                    
     not persecute  us because  we do  pledge to  preserve a                                                                    
     God  given inherent  right in  this country  and people                                                                    
     fought  for that  right. It  reminds me  that we  are a                                                                    
     government of  fifty individual  states who  are united                                                                    
     as a  nation of  free people. It  reminds us  that this                                                                    
     flag,  Old  Glory,  has  been  carried  through  battle                                                                    
     fields  and that  blood has  been shed  of millions  of                                                                    
     people to  protect the  freedom that  we have  to speak                                                                    
     our minds and  to disagree with each  other without the                                                                    
     threat of  retaliation. It reminds us  that people from                                                                    
     all over the  world come to this country  at great risk                                                                    
     to  live  the  American  dream. When  I  stand  in  the                                                                    
     gallery  in the  Senate  Chambers and  recite the  USPA                                                                    
     with a room fool of  citizens and Senators, what I hear                                                                    
     is  a  group  of  Americans  united,  indivisible,  and                                                                    
     preserving this  Republic and the God  given rights our                                                                    
     Forefathers  strived to  preserve.  This resolution  is                                                                    
     yet one  reminder that we  are Americans united  as one                                                                    
     nation, under God.                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                                
9:35:13 AM                                                                                                                    
MS.  MOSS noted  handing  out a  transcription  to the  committee                                                               
members from  a Red  Skelton performance  where he  had explained                                                               
the USPA, addressed the use of  "under God," and noted his regret                                                               
should  "under  God"  ever  be  eliminated  from  the  USPA.  She                                                               
revealed  that the  Massachusetts  Supreme Court  is reviewing  a                                                               
case that  was argued in  September 2013 that challenges  the use                                                               
of the words  "under God." She summarized that SJR  26 is Senator                                                               
Coghill's way  of bringing to  light just how important  the USPA                                                               
is and recognizing its significance.                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR COGHILL  said the  anniversary for the  USPA came  to his                                                               
attention  prior to  the February  10  date and  added that  many                                                               
states have  noted February  10 as the  date to  commemorate, but                                                               
USPA was first recited on June 14.                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
He read Section 3 from the Alaska Statehood Act as follows:                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     The Constitution  of the State  of Alaska  shall always                                                                    
     be Republican  in form  and shall  not be  repugnant to                                                                    
     the  Constitution   of  the   United  States   and  the                                                                    
     principals of the Declaration of Independence.                                                                             
                                                                                                                                
He set forth  that the USPA is a reminder  that the United States                                                               
is a republic.  He remarked that many children  struggle with the                                                               
difference between a republic and  a democracy. He set forth that                                                               
USPA is  a constant reminder of  the Republic. He noted  that the                                                               
Declaration of Independence is also  based on the principals that                                                               
all men are created equal, but  they are endowed by their creator                                                               
with certain  unalienable rights. He  added that at the  very end                                                               
of the Declaration of Independence,  the Founding Fathers pledged                                                               
their  lives  and their  sacred  honor,  but with  reliance  with                                                               
divine providence.                                                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
9:38:09 AM                                                                                                                    
He  called attention  to a  famous United  States judge,  Learned                                                               
Hand, and  pointed out that  he had  been quoted more  often than                                                               
any  other lower-court  judge. He  read  from one  of Mr.  Hand's                                                               
speeches as follows:                                                                                                            
                                                                                                                                
     What  do  we  mean  when  we say  that  we  first  seek                                                                    
     liberty?  I often  wonder whether  we do  not rest  our                                                                    
     hopes  too  much  upon constitutions,  upon  laws,  and                                                                    
     courts. Believe me these are  false hopes, liberty lies                                                                    
     in the hearts of men and  women, when it dies there, no                                                                    
     constitution law or court can  save it, no constitution                                                                    
     law or court can you do  much to help it, while it lies                                                                    
     there it  needs no  constitution law  or court  to save                                                                    
     it.  And what  is this  liberty which  must lie  in the                                                                    
     hearts of  men and women?  It is not the  ruthless, the                                                                    
     unbridled  will; it  is not  the freedom  to do  as one                                                                    
     likes.  That  is  the  denial   of  liberty  and  leads                                                                    
     straight  to   its  overthrow.  A  society   which  men                                                                    
     recognize no  check upon their  freedom soon  becomes a                                                                    
     society  where  freedom is  the  possession  of only  a                                                                    
     savage few, as we have learned to our sorrow.                                                                              
                                                                                                                                
SENATOR COGHILL  explained that  Mr. Hand goes  on in  his speech                                                               
that liberty really  resides in the recognition that  the U.S. is                                                               
a nation of  faith. He continued to quote from  Mr. Hand's speech                                                               
as follows:                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                
     The spirit of liberty is  the spirit which weighs their                                                                    
     interests alongside  its own  without bias.  The spirit                                                                    
     of liberty remembers  that not even a  sparrow falls to                                                                    
     earth unheeded; the spirit of  liberty is the spirit of                                                                    
     him who,  near two  thousand years ago,  taught mankind                                                                    
     that lesson it  has never learned, but  has never quite                                                                    
     forgotten.                                                                                                                 
                                                                                                                                
He pointed out  that Judge Learned Hand just wanted  to remind us                                                               
of the  history of those who  have thought deeply and  long about                                                               
the nation's heritage.  He said USPA is a  constant reminder that                                                               
makes us  reach back and, at  times, remind ourselves on  a daily                                                               
basis. He set forth  that SJR 26 will be one  way for Alaskans to                                                               
commemorate the USPA.                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                
9:40:28 AM                                                                                                                    
SENATOR GIESSEL  moved to  report from  committee SJR  26 labeled                                                               
28-LS1268\N    with    zero    fiscal   note    and    individual                                                               
recommendations.                                                                                                                
                                                                                                                                
9:40:41 AM                                                                                                                    
CHAIR DYSON announced  that without objection, SJR  26 passes out                                                               
of the Senate State Affairs Standing Committee.