Our National Anthem
In this season of politics, the start of football season, Olympic competition of very recent memory, and a host of other venues, we have heard our national anthem, “The Star Spangled Banner,” many, many times. From stirring renditions by talented singers to pride in hearing just the music play as our gold medallists stood triumphantly on the platform in London, for many of us that melody encompasses all that we love about our country.
Interestingly enough, the verse of Francis Key’s poem that has been our national anthem for only eighty years does not mention the name of our country once. The English drinking song from which the melody comes is difficult to sing yet in Key’s day, had seen over eighty other sets of lyrics put to it. It was written during a war most of us know nothing about. And instead of a straightforward limerick about how great our country is, it begins and ends with a question. “O say can you see...?” to “does that star spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
I recently had the honor of visiting Fort McHenry whose bombardment and resistance inspired Key’s poem. In 1814 our country was still young, there were veterans of the Revolutionary war fighting for freedom again. Washington had been burned, we had been losing many more battles than we won, the invasion of Canada had been a flop. The fight for Baltimore was crucial. Had Fort McHenry fallen and Baltimore sacked by the British, the outcome of the war would have been very different. So the question at the conclusion of Key’s first verse, our national anthem, was very real. Had the flag failed to appear, had the fort fallen, we could well be singing “God Save the Queen” under the Union Jack.
Key’s concluding question is one each generation of Americans must answer. Other nations find their identity in geography, the “Motherland” or “Fatherland.” Others find it in ethnicity, religion or culture dating back centuries or millennia. The people in such places identify themselves by such things regardless of their political arrangements. Our nation, in contrast, finds its identity and continuity in a set of ideals and principles held by “we the people.” Our continuity, therefore, depends on our adherence to our ideals and those ideals demand a political system that embodies liberty. Free men must be brave for it takes courage for a man to chart his own course, to determine his own destiny, to risk all to see his dreams realized. But brave men must also be free for without intellectual and economic freedom and the rights to the products of our efforts, there is no innovation, wealth or risk taking.
The greatness of America lies in those ideals. That is why any man or woman from any other nation, tribe, culture or religion, if they have these values and respect them in others, can become a part of this wonderful land of the free and home of the brave. This is why America rose to be the first among nations in just about every category in such a short time, why our prosperity, our innovations, and our freedom has had such a positive impact on billions of people.
Unfortunately, we have been abandoning those principles for decades and it shows. We are no longer first in many areas. Instead of an economic powerhouse, we find ourselves under a crushing burden of debt. Instead of respect, we are scorned. Instead of a nation of adventurous risk takers where every kid had a dream and every man worked to achieve it, we are devolving into a nation of simple takers. Instead of a charitable nation, we are a nation of charity cases. We are becoming a nation where bravery is politically incorrect, freedom is overrated, success is scorned, risk is folly, and prosperity is the result of plunder.
The star spangled banner may yet fly but whether is flies over a nation of brave, free people is up to us, it is up to you. When we began turning our lives over to politicians and bureaucrats our problems multiplied in quantity and quality. Only by mustering the courage to take responsibility for our own lives, wrenching it from the hands of those who desire to plunder our wealth and our souls, will we be able to answer our anthem’s question with an unequivocal and resounding YES!
Interestingly enough, the verse of Francis Key’s poem that has been our national anthem for only eighty years does not mention the name of our country once. The English drinking song from which the melody comes is difficult to sing yet in Key’s day, had seen over eighty other sets of lyrics put to it. It was written during a war most of us know nothing about. And instead of a straightforward limerick about how great our country is, it begins and ends with a question. “O say can you see...?” to “does that star spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?”
I recently had the honor of visiting Fort McHenry whose bombardment and resistance inspired Key’s poem. In 1814 our country was still young, there were veterans of the Revolutionary war fighting for freedom again. Washington had been burned, we had been losing many more battles than we won, the invasion of Canada had been a flop. The fight for Baltimore was crucial. Had Fort McHenry fallen and Baltimore sacked by the British, the outcome of the war would have been very different. So the question at the conclusion of Key’s first verse, our national anthem, was very real. Had the flag failed to appear, had the fort fallen, we could well be singing “God Save the Queen” under the Union Jack.
Key’s concluding question is one each generation of Americans must answer. Other nations find their identity in geography, the “Motherland” or “Fatherland.” Others find it in ethnicity, religion or culture dating back centuries or millennia. The people in such places identify themselves by such things regardless of their political arrangements. Our nation, in contrast, finds its identity and continuity in a set of ideals and principles held by “we the people.” Our continuity, therefore, depends on our adherence to our ideals and those ideals demand a political system that embodies liberty. Free men must be brave for it takes courage for a man to chart his own course, to determine his own destiny, to risk all to see his dreams realized. But brave men must also be free for without intellectual and economic freedom and the rights to the products of our efforts, there is no innovation, wealth or risk taking.
The greatness of America lies in those ideals. That is why any man or woman from any other nation, tribe, culture or religion, if they have these values and respect them in others, can become a part of this wonderful land of the free and home of the brave. This is why America rose to be the first among nations in just about every category in such a short time, why our prosperity, our innovations, and our freedom has had such a positive impact on billions of people.
Unfortunately, we have been abandoning those principles for decades and it shows. We are no longer first in many areas. Instead of an economic powerhouse, we find ourselves under a crushing burden of debt. Instead of respect, we are scorned. Instead of a nation of adventurous risk takers where every kid had a dream and every man worked to achieve it, we are devolving into a nation of simple takers. Instead of a charitable nation, we are a nation of charity cases. We are becoming a nation where bravery is politically incorrect, freedom is overrated, success is scorned, risk is folly, and prosperity is the result of plunder.
The star spangled banner may yet fly but whether is flies over a nation of brave, free people is up to us, it is up to you. When we began turning our lives over to politicians and bureaucrats our problems multiplied in quantity and quality. Only by mustering the courage to take responsibility for our own lives, wrenching it from the hands of those who desire to plunder our wealth and our souls, will we be able to answer our anthem’s question with an unequivocal and resounding YES!
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