There should be no place in Congress for those who won’t pledge allegiance to America. 

That means there should be no place in Congress for Mai Vang, who’s vying for California’s 7th Congressional District seat on the June 2 ballot. 

The fringe-left member of the Sacramento City Council has long made a show of turning her back on the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance –– including on Veterans Day, The California Post reported.

That’s churlish. Immature. Divisive. And deeply disrespectful.

In February 2025, Vang wrote on Facebook: “As much as I love this country, I use that moment [during the Pledge] to ground myself — to center our communities and remind myself of the injustices and harm that continue to affect so many, both locally and across the globe, under this nation’s influence.”

Oh, give it a rest. 

It’s hard to believe that “love” of country inspires not allegiance, but contempt for alleged “injustices and harm … locally and across the globe.”

Besides, reciting the Pledge, with hand over heart, does not signify that one agrees with everything the government does, will do, or has done. 

It signals loyalty to the nation itself, respect for the land of opportunity, and care for the values — foremost, liberty — upon which this country was founded.

Of course: Those who shun patriotic rituals have freedom of speech. 

They can pout through the Pledge all they like. But that doesn’t mean they belong in high public office, leading the rest of us.

And yes, dissent can indeed be patriotic. But the patriotic kind involves rational debate and discussion — and respect for institutions — not a stunt, performed repeatedly, that calls to mind a sulky 5-year-old.

Would Vang and others like her prefer no Pledge, no flag, no America as we know it?

Because America is, and has always been, at its core, an idea. 

It’s an idea rooted in self-determination, in freedom from royal whims, in a government limited by enumerated powers in a brilliantly crafted Constitution that safeguards personal liberty.

On this, the 250th anniversary of the United States, Americans want to honor that heritage, not trample on it.

And on this Memorial Day weekend, meant to honor the many members of the US Armed Forces who gave their lives to preserve our unique brand of freedom, anti-American stunts rankle even more.

Sadly for Democrats and the nation, the elected left seems increasingly swayed by socialists with views antithetical to America’s founding values.

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As a councilwoman, Vang has pushed persistently to shrink and defund Sacramento’s police force, claiming nonsensically that more law enforcement does not increase public safety.

Meanwhile, her platform for Congress reads like a far-left manifesto: She’d abolish (and prosecute) ICE; “defend gender-affirming care”; “stop the genocide in Palestine,” promote the Green New Deal; and oblige taxpayers to fund endless “free” health care, child care, college tuition and more.

Sigh.

We need pragmatic leadership in Washington.

We need leaders with back-to-basics common sense.

And we need elected officials who can do better than a mess of pipe dreams, radical agitation, and contempt for the nation.

Those who disdain America — those who can’t even stand respectfully for the Pledge — have no business trying to lead it.