Francis Bellamy first penned it in 1892. In my years as a student, I learned it and recited it approximately 2,000 times.

In my 34 years as a history teacher at Lake Shore Central, I started the day with my classroom students saying it over 6,000 times.

Meetings, sporting events that I coached and observed, added another 1,000 repetitions in my estimation. In my life I have said The Pledge of Allegiance approximately 9,000 times. I will continue to say it with sincerity and meaning.

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the ‘republic’ for which it stands” are the first 20 words in our daily declaration. A republic is a government ruled by representatives of the citizen body. Our presidential elections are an example of how a “republican” representative democracy works.

One casts their vote for a slate of electors in the citizen’s state. In 2016, Hillary Clinton drew 65.5 million votes yet lost the electoral vote with 232. Donald Trump garnered approximately 63 million popular votes but won with 306 electoral votes. 2016 was one of five presidential elections in which the popular vote winner was defeated in the Electoral College created in the Constitution of our democratic republic.

Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election in both the popular vote by 7-plus million and the electoral vote flipped against him by the exact same numbers seen in 2016. Yet to this day Trump voices that 2020 was a “Fake Election” and continues to pursue efforts to bring down our democratic republic!

Every measure in which Trump tried to prove his “fake election” claim was dismissed or refuted.

— In 62 court cases presented by Trump and legal allies, his legal team scored 1 victory (USA Today)

— At least 86 judges ruled on the above cases — with 38 of those judges were nominated and appointed by Republicans – many of them by Trump himself.

— Jan. 2, 2021, Trump tells the Attorney General of Georgia “I just want you to find 11,780 votes.” The Georgia vote was tabulated 3 different times and deemed accurate.

— Trump promoted “fake electoral slates in seven states” where he lost the popular vote. (CNN)

Donald Trump’s attempt to block the peaceful transition of power in our democratic republic didn’t stop there.

On Jan. 6, 2021:

— Trump implores the crowd “Fight like hell” or “you’re not going to have a country anymore”

— “We’re going to walk down there, and I will be with you”!

A mob attacked the Capitol building to disrupt the joint session of Congress convening to certify the electoral results of the 2020 Presidential Election. One hundred and forty Capitol and Metropolitan police officers were criminally assaulted by the rioters according to the U.S. Justice Department. One police officer dies of a stroke, two later commit suicide, one rioter is shot to death. Over 750 rioters have been convicted of crimes related to the Jan. 6 assault on our government.

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so ceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long” Trump wrote after the assault on the Capitol. “Remember this day forever”! (NY Post)

Since the January 6 attack on our “democratic republic”

— Trump was the first outgoing president NOT to attend a presidential inauguration in 150 years! (NPR)

— Trump ally, Fox News was court ordered to pay Dominion Voting Machines $787.5 million for “falsely” claiming the voting machines were rigged against Trump.

— Kenneth Chesebro a lawyer for Trump pleaded guilty to creating a list of fake electors in the state of Georgia.

Yes, “patriots”, please remember Jan. 6, 2021 forever! On the campaign trail, Sept. 1, Trump continued to verbally assault our republic “Whoever heard you get indicted for interfering with a presidential election, where you have every right to do it”! (The Hill)

Your vote in 2024 will help choose the next President of the United States. Will your vote in this presidential election be in harmony with the pledge you recited thousands of times growing up and as an adult? Will your “patriotic” vote in this presidential election be in support of or against the “democratic republic” for which our stars and stripes stand for?

John Crawford is a Dunkirk resident.