So which is baby, Spits or swallows?

Dictionary definitions of "Pledge"

• To bind or engage by promise or declaration; to engage solemnly; as, to pledge one's self.
• A solemn binding promise to do, give, or refrain from doing something: signed a pledge never to reveal the secret; a pledge of money to a charity.
• Something given or held as security to guarantee payment of a debt or fulfillment of an obligation.
• The condition of something thus given or held: put an article in pledge.

So, when the highest paid elder statesmen and first generation political leader of independent Singapore categorically states that The Pledge is an aspiration and not ideology, I have to ask myself, what should I make of these other pledges:

• The wedding vows- "I pledge that I will honor my wife"
• Pledges of Allegiance

Are the vows taken merely aspirations? That I may hold on to the claims made and discard them at personal leisure and whim?

What then of allegiance? That loyalty to King and country are mere drinking toasts?

more to come, will update after work