Last week, the Fargo school board made its biggest mistake since the one it made a week earlier when board members stopped reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before their meetings.

The furor was foreseeable, red meat for zealots who've carjacked what used to be the Republican Party. The board then compounded their “unforced error,” as columnist Mike McFeely astutely called it, surrendering to intimidation and reinstating the pledge, with a 7-1 vote.

I viewed the board's original decision as ironic posturing against what many feel is religious, nationalistic posturing. Or indoctrination. A letter writer called it a miracle that conservative Rob Port and I agreed on the issue . Geez, it's like “Freaky Friday” around here. Predictable as the sun rising in the east and flies flocking to manure, though, one hyperventilating patriot warned that godless (redundant?) libs might soon ban the flag.

Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh my!

As big and small-time talk show yappers and politicians poured lower-priced gasoline onto the fire, I wondered what Sun Tzu would've said about the board's original stumble. This: “He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.” However, I don't need Sun Tzu to tell me that once the fight's on, for whatever reason, you don't surrender to bullies. It emboldens them.

Nyamal Dei, a South Sudanese refugee, a face of diversity in Fargo, was right with her lonely, brave vote against capitulation. Consider her background, her harrowing escape from her nation's violence. “We almost got killed,” she recounted. “My uncle had a Bible in his backpack. Somebody shot him. The shot went into the Bible but it didn't go through. He would have been gone (dead) right away.”

Divine intervention? But, apparently she's the godless one.

Jim Shaw reported the threats she received. “'Why don’t you go back to f------ Africa, you f------ (N-word).' “Another caller said, 'Should have figured a Black mother f----- wouldn’t vote for the Pledge of Allegiance before school. Listen jackass … If you don’t like the Pledge of Allegiance because it hurts your little Black feelings, ah. You’re a c---. F------ fascist. F------ Nazi. Now you’re marked.'”

From the frying pan into the fire. From South Sudan to a United States that's become increasingly unrecognizable. Or eerily familiar if you've actually studied 1930's European fascist history.

With liberty and justice for all.

Although the pledge was just instituted in April, a political tripwire placed by a former board member, posturing opportunists pretended that this somehow affected traditional classroom recitation of the pledge. It didn't.

Yankee Doodle Dandy Doug Burgum, eager to boost flaccid support from party extremists, prescribed flag pole Viagra. (Cue fife and drums. And banjo.) “America is the land of opportunity ... students in every public school … along with elected governing bodies and those who attend their meetings, should have the opportunity to recite the Pledge … and express support for the American ideals upon which our country was founded.” Snore.

Hint: A smaller flag makes your pole look bigger.

I doubt Sun Tzu said it, but the mantra of the boot heel-clicking arm of Das Party as it pertains to their low-information brownshirts is “Keep 'em scared, dumb, and angry.” Mission accomplished. Bully.

As for the Fargo school board, a hard lesson hopefully learned.

Tony Bender writes an exclusive weekly column for Forum News Service. This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of this publication, nor Forum Communications ownership.