Put down the hot dog and step away from the beer

 

The song we will sing on the fourth has, in my view, a central statement about all of us, all stripes, sizes, persuasions, you name the distinction.

Americans are not cowards.

We do not cower when threatened.

We do not sing that ours is the land of the safe and the home of the secure.

On the contrary we sing that ours is:

"…the land of the free and the home of the brave." ¹

We reject attempts to trade our freedoms for expediencies² whether they are urged upon us for the concerns of the right or for the concerns of the left.³

Now go ahead.  Eat that hot dog and drink that beer.  You paid for them.

1.           There are four verses in our national anthem. This line of verse is the only line that is repeated. It is repeated in each of the verses. In all four verses it is the last and concluding line of the verse.

The song was originally written as a poem over several days beginning on the morning of September 14, 1814 by Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer. Mr. Key was held captive on a British frigate and watched a 25 hour bombardment of Fort McHenry which defended the port city of Baltimore from attack.  We were at war with the British who had just sacked and burned our nation’s capital.  They were intent on doing the same to nearby Baltimore unless we surrendered.  Mr. Key knew that as long as the British continued their bombardment the Americans had not surrendered. Not long before dawn the bombardment suddenly ceased.  Because of the darkness Mr. Key could not see whether our flag still flew over the fort. But when the sun rose that morning he could see and he could see without any difficulty. The Americans had not pulled down their flag but had replaced a smaller one with a huge one specially made for the battle, one that was designed to be seen by everyone, friend and foe alike.  The original manuscript of the poem can be seen at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:KeysSSB.jpg

2.           Such a sentiment was also very eloquently and convincingly conveyed on March 23, 1775. On June 5, 1788 that same orator was not so convincing and for that I am happy.

3.           In our Bill of Rights alone there is an extraordinary array of rights specified some of which are more readily embraced than others by each part of the political spectrum.