Progressives love to hate the Star-Spangled Banner, generally preferring "America the Beautiful." This is a testament to the victory of narcissism over patriotism: America is no more beautiful than other countries. As time advances, it becomes frowzier and frowzier, and "America the Beautiful" more and more akin to "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall."

It is said that the Star-Spangled Banner is about war. True, but so is the Battle Hymn of the Republic. So is the 1812 Overture. So are Over There and The White Cliffs of Dover. But what kind of war? The victory celebrated in the Star-Spangled Banner was won by a citizen militia over King George's imperial forces, who, as the song goes, swore they "a home and a country should leave us no more."

Although he composed a song about "bombs bursting in air," Francis Scott Key was far more conspicuous for his Christian piety than his martial spirit. Although he rejoiced at the repulse of imperialist warmongers, he warmly welcomed unarmed immigrants. In 1833, he penned a poem for a Sunday School Fourth of July celebration:

"Fair land of the free! Thou wast made to be ever

A refuge and home for the poor and oppressed,

And thy welcome and blessing denied shall be never

To the wanderer who flees to thy bosom for rest.

Sing all ye nations! The arm of the Lord

Is revealed in its power, fulfilling his word."

Francis Scott Key would probably have thought it a bit odd to pit one patriotic song against another, and even odder to have an official loyalty oath like the pledge of allegiance. Coerced pledges of loyalty are no substitute for patriotic feeling. Surely, in the "fair land of the free, he thought, patriotic lyrics should be abundant and on the lips of all. His theory of patriotism is sketched in the newspaper account of a speech by Key at a banquet in his honor.

"He would undertake to say, that if a nation's songs were of any importance to it, there was but one way of providing a supply of them... If national poets, who shall keep alive the sacred fire of patriotism in the hearts of the people, are desirable to a country, the country must deserve them; must put forth her patriots and heroes, whose deeds alone can furnish the necessary inspiration; when a country is thus worthy of the lyre, she will command its highest efforts.

But if ever forgetful of her past and present glory, she shall cease to be 'the land of the free and the home of the brave,' and become the purchased possession of a company of stock-jobbers and speculators; if her people are to become the vassals of a great monied corporation, and to bow down to her pensioned and privileged nobility; if the patriots who shall dare to arraign her corruptions and denounce her usurpation, are to be sacrificed upon her gilded altar; such a country may furnish venal orators and presses, but the soul of national poetry will be gone. That muse will 'never bow the knee in Mammon's fane.' No, the patriots of such a land must hide their shame in the deepest forests, and her bards must hang their harps upon the willows. Such a people, thus corrupted and degraded

'Living, shall forfeit fair reknown,

And, doubly dying, shall go down

To the vile dust from whence they sprung,

unwept, unhonored, and unsung'

He again thanked the company for the honor they had done him; but he could only take his share of it. He was the instrument in executing what they had been pleased to praise... He would therefore propose as a toast, the real authors of the song,

The Defenders of the Star Spangled Banner:

What they would not strike to a foe,

They will never sell to traitors."

Ah, but Francis Scott Key underestimated the power of the market, did he not?