THE NATIONAL SONG

Unlike the Old World the USA has few artifacts that gives it's people a sense of unity and loyalty to the state, history, customs and culture. It turned patriotism into a public required displayed ritual such as singing a poorly written jingle that few know the lyrics, and that pledge that reads like a house wife will say never to use Brand X laundry soap. In the back ground of public ritual display of patriotism is our national insecurity. We are a people fragmented and not even on the same page as to class, race, custom and history and in fact do not share very much in common in practice so we need propaganda and commerce to to give us the illusion of being one people. We only become one people on tax day, on game day and it's we vs them or during a disaster.

Our national song and our pledge is our moment to go beyond our reality of these disunited states and people. That's what religion and the sacred does in music - it goes beyond the secular and mundane. But our song and pledge fails at all levels. It's more profane than sacred in light of their own history and it's words and the lives of the authors.