If you went to school in the United States, chances are you began most days with the Pledge of Allegiance. You stood with your classmates, hand over heart, facing the flag, and recited those familiar words. It was more than a routine—it was a ritual. And it ended with a powerful promise: “with liberty and justice for all.”

It’s a line that many of us can say by heart, but how many of us have stopped to think about what it actually means?

As a city councilor in Dover, I continue to say the Pledge at the start of every council meeting. But every time I do, I’m struck by a growing sense of discomfort—not because I doubt the words themselves, but because I worry that we, as a nation, are falling short of their meaning.

Let’s be honest: liberty and justice are not equally accessible to everyone in this country. They’re too often reserved for the people who look like us, speak our language, share our politics, or were born within our borders. And that’s not just a disappointment—it’s a betrayal of the very ideals we claim to hold sacred.

Not a Conditional Promise

The phrase isn’t “with liberty and justice for some.” It’s “for all.” That includes the immigrant mother seeking asylum. The child born in another country but raised on American soil. The refugee escaping violence. The neighbor who speaks English as a second language. The citizen who doesn’t look or pray or vote the way we do.

The Constitution guarantees inalienable rights to everyone within the jurisdiction of the United States. These are not conditional on birthplace, race, religion, or party affiliation. They are not earned through conformity or withdrawn for dissent. And they are certainly not reserved only for those who were lucky enough to be born here.

That’s what makes the United States exceptional—not a mythologized past, not military might, not economic dominance, but our founding promise that every human being deserves dignity, fairness, and freedom under the law.

A Legacy to Uphold

George Washington understood this. In his Farewell Address on September 17, 1796, he said:

“Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”

He recognized that American identity wasn’t based on geography, ancestry, or tribal loyalty. It was based on shared ideals—on a common commitment to something greater than ourselves. Washington saw that patriotism, when done right, unites us through principle, not prejudice.

So why are we so quick today to define who is and isn’t American based on how someone talks, how recently they arrived, or how neatly they fit into our expectations?

Patriotism Means Living the Words

Patriotism isn’t found in slogans, nor in performative displays of allegiance. It’s found in the hard work of making this country better—more inclusive, more just, more free. It’s about asking uncomfortable questions and confronting uncomfortable truths. It’s about acknowledging that the promise of “liberty and justice for all” is still a work in progress—and committing ourselves to that work.

Because “liberty and justice for all” is not just an aspiration—it is our legacy as well as our goal destination. It is the torch passed to us by generations who believed in building a nation that served everyone, and it is the challenge we must continue to carry forward.

If we want to honor the Pledge of Allegiance, we have to do more than recite it. We have to live it. That means defending the rights of the marginalized. It means challenging policies that discriminate. It means standing up—not just for our own freedoms, but for the freedoms of those who are most at risk of losing theirs.

Because the test of a nation is not how well it serves the powerful. It’s how faithfully it delivers liberty and justice to everyone—especially the vulnerable.

A Pledge Worth Keeping

Let’s stop treating the Pledge like background noise or ceremonial habit. Let’s start hearing those final words—“with liberty and justice for all”—as the call to action they truly are.

It’s not enough to say them. We must mean them. And we must work to make them real.

That is the kind of patriotism that honors our founders, uplifts our communities, and carries America toward its best self.