Jo

Alright, so we should have a Civic Anthem. Luckily we've already got one, right? The 'Star-Spangled Banner'! But I am here to propose that we use another song.

Downsides of the 'Star-Spangled Banner': you cannot competently sing it unless you are an *unusually* skilled singer, it is about a single battle in a single war which we didn't super win (weep slightly for the Library of Congress), and it's got a vibe of soft-clad caressing angels rather than, well, anything practical. Also, it talks about relatively few American values: freedom, bravery, and the literal flag.

(I *would* say that an indictment of the song is that nobody even knows more than the first verse, but then again a minority of Americans could recite any of the Battle Hymn of the Republic.)

The catch is that I don't know what other song we should use.

Aaron Copland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man' is good, but, well, no lyrics. Also it isn't as soaring as I'd prefer.

Caesarsaladinn says: "the Battle Hymn of the Republic is...unironically really good and would be a much better U.S. national anthem. it’s catchy, energetic, strong in rhythm and rhyme, easy to sing, and is a reminder of this country’s most righteous moment. the overt Christianity is unfortunate, but not out of place in political rhetoric, just saying the quiet part out loud imo."

I think that the Battle Hymn of the Republic should remain exactly that. If ever I am mowed down in a hail of bullets in the course of defending my homeland from military threat, I can think of no more fitting song to accompany the releasing of my soul; so too is it a derned rousing chant as you march off to a glorious death. But yeah, it's not secular, and it's pretty martially focused. I must emphasize that good sense, good taste, and possibly even law all require that the anthem of any polity with an Establishment Clause be wholly secular!

Caesarsaladinn also suggests that "The Battle Cry of Freedom is even more sing-along-able, totally secular, equally righteous, and only needs a few words changed to make it timeless instead of 1860s-specific. the poetry of the lyrics is worse (and pretty repetitive), but still worlds better than the current anthem, and could be improved with a little effort. it’s a strong contender".

Hm, if we want to improve the lyrics, what might we want to improve?

Difficulties include:

 –  How domestic we want our battles to be. Many Americans are of the opinion that we should not be the world's policeman, although in practice the US has been quite imperial since the days of Monroe. Of course, many Americans are also of the opinion that our guns should not sit idle while residents of some far-off land are getting massacred (recall that Captain America fights by throwing his shield). And then there's the quagmire of how violent we're willing to get in distant regions to protect our economic interests... Given this mess, I think the song should not take a stance on this particular issue, but rather leave it ambiguous.

 –  The fact that we actually still have slavery, it's just illegal now. We have eliminated perhaps 99% of slavery in the US, not counting when the court inaccurately rules someone as having consented to the performance of labour (eg, forged contracts, innocent persons sentenced to hard labor); obviously, that's a huge achievement, and we should celebrate everyone who worked for it, but the asymptote hasn't *quite* hit zero and I would prefer that each detail of our anthem be at least vaguely accurate.

 –  The fact that the US constantly fails to live up to its ideals. I do not consider that to be a real objection to the Anthem. Of *course* we fail to live up to our ideals; if we didn't, that would be a big sign that our ideals aren't ambitious enough. Also, nobody ever said that ideals are the same thing as present behavior.

 –  As Caesarsaladinn says, the repetition. That can be fixed by a decent poet.

 –  Also as Caesarsaladinn says, it's a bit focused on the Civil War, which please Lord I won't have to go back and edit to say "the first Civil War".

 –  The unfortunately forced rhyme between 'hurrah' and 'stars'.

 –  The slight paucity of American values. American values that *are* in the song include: our weird love for the literal flag, freedom, our willingness to fight martially for freedom, our willingness to fight martially for the unity of the Union, heroism (albeit possibly a non-individualistic ideal of such, perhaps unlike our norm), a dislike for the Confederacy (and probably by extension traitors to the Union...but not traitors to the British Empire, ahem), that our ancestors (or at least forebears) fought the same fight which we are continuing, loyalty, nobility, bravery, abolitionism, possibly willingness to let noble people become Americans, possibly respect for the poor, national identity covering a wide geographic territory from sea to shining sea, and that America is our favorite country. American values (thanks to https://www.state.gov/courses/answeringdifficultquestions/assets/m/resources/DifficultQuestions-AmericanValues.pdf and https://www.fordham.edu/download/downloads/id/3193/values_americans_live_by.pdf) *not* (very explicitly) in the song include: any civil liberty besides lack of slavery (especially freedom of speech), republican democracy, separation of powers, federalism, immigration, immigration for one's own ancestors and for nobody later, having the most powerful military on God's green Earth, (more explicitly) melting pots, American literature, America's natural scenery, unsurpassed wealth and natural resources, Christianity, religious freedom, rebellion against the British Empire, beating the Nazis, capitalism and free markets, ACTUAL rule of law (I'm looking at you, Parliamentary sovereignty), invention, innovation, nuclear families and single-family homes, cars and automobile-centric transportation infrastructure, American television and cinematic hegemony, individualism and atomization and self-determination, self-reliance and self-sufficiency, government minding its own d--n business, guns and fireworks, equal opportunity without ever guaranteeing equality of outcome, a lack of predicating self-worth on class combined with a moderate denial of existing class divides, certain sports, Boy Scouts, consensual charity, meritocracy, friendliness, racism, racial equality, Great Men (who are certainly permitted to be women), protection of property, consumerism and materialism, paranoia regarding government power, productivity which is quantifiable ideally in monetary terms, dominance of man over nature, competitiveness, *relative* lack of deference to tradition, the Protestant work ethic, possibly pragmatism, big business and small businesses, being tough on crime (though notably less so than many other countries), relatively little formality with much of formality being in a casual/social/friendly style (eg, down-home Southern belle etiquette), and taming nature to man's ends.

 –  Many feminists' inevitable objection to using 'brothers' and 'man', although to a small extent this is historically accurate as few women fought in the US military until relatively recently.

 –  The fact that it doesn't talk about how we WENT TO THE G-DD--N MOON.

But honestly, fixing all that would be massively overhauling the song. We might just want to come up with a new song entirely. Give John Williams a check for a hundred grand, open up a contest for the lyrics, and Lord Salisbury's your uncle.

We could, of course, simply choose 'Yankee Doodle', but while I'm all for reclamation I think we have to draw the line somewhere.