The pledge is a sort of thing that because we are more individualistic than have been in years past, the pledge becomes odd to many.

In the past we were communities, brought together in the forms of church and other social gatherings, and so something like the pledge brought us all together in a way that honors those around us, and those that have chosen to sacrifice their lives for the country.

We weren’t necessarily doing it for the country itself, but for the people that the country ultimately represented.

And also, since we lived in these communities, you knew everyone around you and their personal ethics. You knew if you could trust them or not.

Now, you can’t trust anyone, and in many turning more isolationist, they in turn became more individualistic. Now it’s every man for themselves, which is why those who would sacrifice them for the communities that they once held, seem like the outliers that were once the other way around.