I personally am more concerned about the words of the current pledge than I am about the history of it. Here is my take on it, Christians and The Pledge of Allegiance.

It’s interesting that children were pledging allegiance to the flag in Hawaii before Hawaii was even a state.

Francis Bellamy (cousin of author Edward Bellamy) was a socialist in the Nationalism movement and authored the Pledge of Allegiance (1892), the origin of the stiff-armed salute adopted much later by the National Socialist German Workers Party. See the work of the symbologist Dr. Rex Curry.
http://rexcurry.net/pledge2.html

The early pledge began with a military salute that was then extended out toward the flag. In practice, the second gesture was performed palm-down with a stiff-arm when the military salute was merely pointed out at the flag. Thus, the military salute led to the Nazi salute in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States.
http://rexcurry.net/pledge_military.html

It was not an ancient Roman salute. That is a myth debunked by Dr. Curry, who showed that the myth came from the Pledge.
http://rexcurry.net/roman-salute-oxford-english-dictionary.html

American national socialists (including Edward Bellamy), in cooperation with Madame Blavatsky and the Theosophical Society, popularized the use of the Swastika (an ancient symbol) as a modern symbol for socialism long before the symbol was adopted by the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis) and used on its flag. http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html

See also http://rexcurry.net/45th-infantry-division-swastika-sooner-soldiers.html

The Bellamys influenced the National Socialist German Workers Party and its dogma, rituals and symbols (e.g. robotic collective chanting to flags; and the modern use of the swastika as crossed S-letters for “Socialism” under German National Socialism). Similar alphabetical symbolism was used under the NSDAP for the “SS” division, the “SA,” the “NSV,” et cetera and similar symbolism is visible today as the the VW logo (the letters “V” and “W” joined for “Volkswagen”). http://rexcurry.net/bookchapter4a1a2a1.html

The Bellamys wanted the government to take over all food, clothing, shelter, goods and services and create an “industrial army” to impose their “military socialism.” See the video documentary at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BssWWZ3XEe4

It is the same dogma that led to the socialist Wholecaust (of which the Holocaust was a part): ~60 million killed under the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics; ~50 million under the Peoples’ Republic of China; ~20 million under the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. http://rexcurry.net/socialists.html

Today, the flag symbolizes authoritarianism in the USA. The historical facts above explain the enormous size and scope of government today, and the USA’s police state, and why it is growing so rapidly. They are reasons for minarchy: massive reductions in government, taxation, spending and socialism.