To what are we pledging our allegiance?

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.

On each Fourth of July at the Seattle Center Flag Pavilion, hundreds of immigrants become United States citizens. It happens with an oath and a pledge.

The Oath of Allegiance is recited first. This is when the citizens-to-be declare that they renounce allegiance to the country from which they came. Then comes the Pledge of Allegiance, in which they promise loyalty to ... . To what?

While many natural-born citizens have recited the pledge daily in school and even memorized it, probably very few have considered its meaning. I've come to this conclusion after leading nearly 50 discussions or seminars on the pledge. Some have been with high-school students, some with elementary and middle-school students, and many with their teachers and parents.

Participants typically say they've not done this kind of review before; they have been putting their hands to their hearts and promising something they have not thought much about.

A seminar is an interpretive discussion of a text of some sort (e.g., book, letter, photo) for the purpose of plumbing its depths. Discussion accomplishes this better than working alone because one's own understanding can be "fertilized" by the views of others. If the seminar proceeds in a diverse group of thinkers and with a skilled facilitator, so much the better: One's own interpretation is more likely to be deepened.

I'm struck by three arguments that typically unfold in seminars on the pledge.

First, and most important to many participants, is the phrase "under God" and what it does to the text when it is present or (as before the Cold War) absent. The mixing of nationalism and theism in the pledge can evoke a torrent of opinion.

Second, to what are we pledging allegiance when we recite it? To the flag, say some. "It says so right there in the first line." To the nation, say others. No, to the republic, say others, pointing to "for which it stands."

Does this argument matter? I believe it does, because only one of these is an idea about how to live with one another. Nazis and Romans pledged allegiance to a person ("Heil Hitler," "Hail Caesar"); others have pledged allegiance to a plot of land ("land where my fathers died"). But "to the republic" suggests fidelity to the principles of constitutional democracy. On this view, we are pledging, in the words of the preamble to the Constitution, to "promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

Then, third, there's that final phrase, "with liberty and justice for all." Now the argument turns on what kind of statement this is. Is it a description or an aspiration? Does the phrase point to a reality or an ideal? On this question the argument runs deep, and for good reason: One side suggests that the citizen's job is to protect democracy (because it has been accomplished); the other, that the citizen's job is to achieve it (because it has not).

There are additional arguments, but these are a good start. Listening to them, it has become clear to me that recitation without interpretation and discussion is like fishing in a dry lake. This is not a case for or against reciting the pledge, but for engaging the ideas and issues it raises when you ask questions, and for doing so with others.

This Fourth of July, let's all — new and old citizens alike — see if we can figure out what we are saying.

Walter Parker is a professor of education at the University of Washington and the editor of "Education for Democracy: Contexts, Curricula, and Assessments." He directs an annual summer institute for teachers on conducting seminars.