It's no secret to anybody who has ever read my writings that I H.A.T.E. our "national anthem."
It has always seemed to me that a song that's all about war and battle has no business being the "anthem" that represents the country in front of and among the nations of the world.
I wonder, sometimes, if perhaps the song itself is partly to blame for our general warlike attitude toward the rest of the world.
I was put in mind of my curmudgeonly attitude at an event that we did this past weekend.
An antique faire.
At which there was a (very bad) country band.
And the first thing they had to do was play the national anthem.
WTF???
But then I got to thinking...
"The Star-Spangled Banner," with all its imagery of war and battles and "rockets red glare," DOES have one thing to recommend it.
It does not mention God.
I wondered if cantankerous, "god-fearing," racist, misogynist, fascist Trumpers have given that any thought.
And I also wondered if that wasn't one of the very points that caused it to be chosen over "America the Beautiful" ("God shed his grace on thee," and all) as the national song. Because we are, supposedly, a nation that separates church from state. In fact, the founders thought that so important, they wrote it into the Constitution.
I'd love to see how this theory would fly on social media. We'd have redneck heads exploding all over the place.
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