This story from Fox News talks about a NYC principal who banned the song "God Bless the USA" from a kindergarten graduation.
OK, so she's a nut. One more in a long, long line of self-hating east-coast liberals. But she may - accidentally and incidentally - have a point.
Before I go any further, my bona fides: I am a Marine Corps veteran, I vote in every election (usually Republican), I am a conservative, I believe in representative democracy, I think saying the Pledge of Allegiance every morning is a fine idea, and I have abiding problems with illegal immigration and the anti-american rhetoric of the left.
That having been said, I would not want a wild-eyed bible-thumper teaching creationism to my nine-year-old son. Similarly, I would not want my child to become a brown-shirt "love-it-or-leave-it" zealot. I don't "love the USA" so much as I love our form of government, the freedoms protected by our Constitution, and the opportunitites for personal improvement offered here. I love the protestant work ethic. I love how rednecks never throw things away (they'll re-purpose anything). I love 4th of July parades where the neighbors make floats. I love that we can, if we want to, stand on a street corner in front of a police officer and recite our anti-government grievances. We can join a union or we can quit a union (mostly .... you anti-american union bastards out there). We can buy any book we want to. The US version of Google includes links to the "Anarchist's Cookbook" and the "Turner Diaries" as well as other books that are demonstrably hateful.
It's hard to write a catchy song about that, so "God Bless the USA" is sort of a stand-in. But when George Bush or Barack Obama stands behind the podium and says the United States has sent troops to Iraq or Uganda, I want my child to listen skeptically, firm in his knowledge that what makes America a truly Great Nation isn't our mountains or our prairies or our soldiers.
What makes America a Great Nation is our desire to make it so.
I like think that the principal banned the song because she doesn't want the kids to become indoctrinated. (deep sigh) Yeah, right.
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