Op-ed by Summer Lane | Photo: Alamy
Miami City Commissioner Sabino Covo, a Democrat, hit a sour note last week during a commission meeting, where she was asked to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Video capturing the moment on social media showed Covo unable to comply with Chairwoman Christine King’s request because it appeared that she didn’t know the pledge.
According to a report from BPR, Covo was recently elected in a special election on Feb. 27, where she won with almost 30 percent of the vote. Following the incident and its viral circulation online, Covo jumped on Twitter to defend herself, claiming that “nervousness is very normal” and that she wasn’t “afraid to admit that” she was.
She wrote, “The oath and pledge I took to our nation and to the residents of District 2 is clear and I am focused on honoring my promise to get things done for our community. Which is why I am not focused on Twitter Talk – but rather on passing two very important pieces of legislation during my first commission meeting, Including one that will provide affordable housing to foster youth. That’s leading through the very words in our Pledge of Allegiance and our promise to lead with ethics and integrity.”
However, Covo failed to clarify in her statement if she actually knew the words of the Pledge of Allegiance.
In the face of today’s America, where freedoms are under attack seemingly every moment, Covo’s inability to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at a simple city commission meeting highlights a critical failure of our culture to infuse pride and respect toward the United States, the American flag, and the men and women who died to keep this nation free.
Justice for All
Last week, the Jan. 6 prisoners who are being held in the Washington, D.C. incarceration facilities joined forces with President Donald Trump to release a song, “Justice For All,” which is their rendition of the National Anthem. Per RSBN, the song rocketed to number one in the Apple Store, elevating the voices of the prisoners, who join together every night and sing the National Anthem, despite the nightmarish circumstances of their imprisonment.
The song was released in tandem with a music video, featuring the vocal performances of the Jan. 6 Choir. President Donald Trump is heard reciting the Pledge of Allegiance throughout the video, which is interspersed with soaring clips of American flags, Trump rallies, and the White House.
Per J6Justice, there are more than 50 American citizens jailed in D.C. who have been denied bail and the right to trial. “Despite this, they still find the strength and courage to proudly Sing The National Anthem every night, holding onto hope that they will soon be reunited with their families,” the organization states on their website.
The patriotism and love for their country that these prisoners have shown is a stark contrast to Covo’s embarrassing inability to recite the Pledge of Allegiance as a city commissioner.
Unfortunately, Covo’s stark failure to respect the American flag and the country it represents seems wholly indicative of the Democrat Party and the far left. Their ambivalence or outright hostility toward the history and the ideological principles of American greatness are lost on them.
President Donald Trump and those who support him understand the integral importance of America on the world stage, as well as the freedom and hope that she represents to the world.
The 1776 Commission
When President Trump was in office, he signed an executive order that directed the U.S. Department of Education to establish the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission, which was aimed at infusing patriotic education and the principles of American history into today’s public school system and beyond. The order promised to “Prioritize the American Founding in Available Federal Resources,” and directed the Department of Education, Department of Defense, and the Department of State to promote patriotic education using federal resources, via the White House.
The Commission’s final “1776 Report” was immediately taken down from the White House website on January 20, 2021, when Joe Biden walked into the Oval Office. The report opened with these solemn words:
“In the course of human events there have always been those who deny or reject human freedom, but Americans will never falter in defending the fundamental truths of human liberty proclaimed on July 4, 1776. We will—we must—always hold these truths. The declared purpose of the President’s Advisory 1776 Commission is to ‘enable a rising generation to understand the history and principles of the founding of the United States in 1776 and to strive to form a more perfect Union.’ This requires a restoration of American education, which can only be grounded on a history of those principles that is ‘accurate, honest, unifying, inspiring, and ennobling.’ And a rediscovery of our shared identity rooted in our founding principles is the path to a renewed American unity and a confident American future.”
The Commission noted that their “first responsibility” was “to summarize the principles of the American founding and how those principles have shaped our country.” The report also pointed out that the country was “deeply divided about the meaning of their country, its history, and how it should be governed.”
Had President Trump’s 1776 Commission been allowed to come to full fruition during a second term of his presidency, there is a case to be made that the denigration of American education could have been halted and reversed.
Trump’s new education policy
When elected American representatives cannot recite the words of their own Pledge of Allegiance, this is an indication of a sickness that has wormed its way into the hearts and minds of too many young people. Where is their pride in this great country? Where is their respect for the Pledge of Allegiance and their solemn reverence for the National Anthem when it’s played at sporting events?
As public school classrooms have watered down the educational value of children’s curriculum and inducted teachers who are obsessed with promoting race-baiting Critical Race Theory (CRT) or the confusing ideology of gender and sexuality, it is no wonder that the priorities of the next generation are scrambled.
In January, President Donald Trump offered an antidote that could save the American education system in a new policy pitch aligned with his admirable Agenda47 platform. As reported by RSBN, if elected as president again in 2024, he would work to eradicate CRT and gender ideology in the classroom, penalizing schools and educational programs caught teaching either.
“The Marxism being preached in our schools is also totally hostile to Judeo-Christian teachings, and in many ways, it’s resembling an established new religion,” Trump said. “Can’t let that happen!”
He added, “For this reason, my administration will aggressively pursue potential violations of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause of the Constitution. That’s very simple.”
Trump has also vowed to gut the corruption from the bowels of the U.S. Department of Education, promising to “have them fired and escorted from the building.” Trump additionally pitched the concept of establishing a new credentialing body that would “be the gold standard of anywhere in the world, to certify teachers who embrace patriotic values and support our way of life and understand that their job is not to indoctrinate children, but very simply to educate them.”
A return to patriotism
Patriotic kids will grow up to become patriotic men and women, akin to the great pioneering spirits and liberty-loving giants who laid the groundwork of freedom for America.
“Ask not what your country can do for you,” President John F. Kennedy said in his Inaugural Address in 1961, “ask what you can do for your country.”
President Trump’s educational policy plan will reinvigorate the heart and soul of America’s children and equip them to respect their country as adults. It will prepare them to serve on city councils, in Senate chambers, and in the White House, so that they can protect the American way of life, not attack it.
The burning fire of patriotism in the hearts of the Jan. 6 prisoners is the blueprint for American courage and patriotism that the everyday man or woman today must emulate.
President Trump has warmly embraced their bravery and elevated their message for the entire country to hear loud and clear:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”