Part of the duty of citizenship is not to be intimidated into conformity. I wish that the oath of citizenship taken by recent immigrants, the pledge that students routinely recite, included something like ” I promise to question everything my leaders tell me.” … “I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgments.”

I also wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes his oath of office, rather than to the flag and nation.

— Carl Sagan