Garry Reed sums up my basic problem with the Pledge of Allegiance here:
Extracting a government loyalty oath from public school children is legalized extortion. Public schools are institutions of coercion. Students are coerced to attend them. Parents are coerced to pay for them. A compulsory pledge has no more legal or moral authority than a confession tortured from a criminal suspect, no more validity than a military oath extracted from a conscript, no more legitimacy than a promise made to a burglar not to call the cops for two hours after your jewelry walks out your front door in his pockets.
Link courtesy of Libertyfilter.