> > Many of them don't WANT to be Americans. They want to be Mexicans that work in America.
>
> The same goes for many legal immigrants. It's quite easy for someone to get Legal Permanent Residence status (a "Green Card") with no intention of becoming a citizen.
>
> Case in point: me. I have yet to decide if I want to apply for citizenship when I'm allowed to (in about 2 more years). I certainly have no desire to give up my British citizenship, and as America has an odd attitude to dual nationality, I may well remain an LPR permanantly. Should I be villified for wanting to live in America, work here and pay taxes here but not vote?
>

That is much different than the scenario with illegal immegrants from Mexico. You are, I assume, OK with being here and behaving as befits your status as a non-citizen. Many illegals, on the other hand, seem to come here with the attitude of, "I'm going to milk the system for all it's worth, and I don't care if it strains the infrastructure. In fact, screw America." Or, at least, that is the attitude many of the "faces" of the pro-illegal immigration debate seem to have.

Now, if that's the attitude you have, then yes, I think you should be villified. But I'm *fairly* certain it's not. ;-)

> How does it make sense for someone who is not a citizen of America to pledge allegiance to America?

The point is that they are NOT citizens. They SHOULD be citizens, or they should be legal aliens. And some of the people complaining about this have children who actually are citizens of the US, children who should be saying the pledge anyway.

>If you had been an American at school in the Soviet Russia (to choose an extreme example), would you feel comfortable being told to swear fealty to the Communist Party every day?

In the first place, it would probably have been extremely difficult for an American child (and we are talking about children; the only time adults really say the pledge is ... well ... Scouts is the only place I can think of) to have been schooled in any Communist country. BUT, if for whatever reason, that child and his parents were living in the USSR, then pledging to the Communist Party would have been something that came with the turf and I would assume the parents would have been aware prior to moving there.

Would I personally feel comfortable with it? Of course not. But I would not choose to live in the USSR, either. If I decided to move to England, say, and become a citizen/legal alien, then yes, I would feel perfectly comfortable pledging my loyalty to her out of respect to the country that took me in, though I would always retain that pride in my native homeland. There's nothing wrong with that. But I do think there is something wrong with straining the system so much that it makes it hard for America to take care of her legal residents and then screaming about how horrible the country is.

La"Man, that's a lot of commas"Zorra