Which song would you rather have as the US national anthem?

[Crumpets]

It's funny, even as a massive secularist, I'd rather have either America the Beautiful or the Battle Hymn of the Republic as our national anthem.

What's wrong with The Star Spangled Banner? It's not my favorite, but it's very solid as far as anthems go.

I think it's a good national anthem, and I love hearing it at Olympic medal ceremonies just as much as the next red-blooded American. I think it a couple of weaknesses, though:

- It focuses on a single event in American history over 200 years ago, rather than what continues to make us proud of our country today.
- We only sing the first verse, meaning we never actually get to answer the question "Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" I suppose you can think of it as a challenge from our forefathers to ensure that the answer is always "yes," although I'm guessing most Americans never really think about it that way when singing it.
- The tune is from a British drinking song.
- The range required to sing the song is pretty big, and makes it sound bad when anybody but a very good singer sings it.

[RI]

- We only sing the first verse, meaning we never actually get to answer the question "Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?" I suppose you can think of it as a challenge from our forefathers to ensure that the answer is always "yes," although I'm guessing most Americans never really think about it that way when singing it.

Never even realized that was a question.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Crumpets, the final part of the fourth stanza does focus on what some people think what makes us great:

Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Winning!