9/10/2013

Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?

On 13 September 1814, the issue was in doubt due to the British naval bombardment of Fort McHenry.
 
That event inspired certain lyrics, which say in part:
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
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!
On 11 September 2012, the issue was not in doubt at the American consulate in Cairo -- the star-spangled banner was down and burned.  And at the consulate in Benghazi, the flag was down and we had four dead, abandoned by the Obama administration. 

Today where the flag still waves, does it do so over the land of the free?  Less and less free, I am afraid. 

But by glory -- yes, by Old Glory on every staff and mast -- she still waves. My hope is that ours will indeed prove to be a home of the brave -- home to a people who act bravely enough that there may truly be a land of the free. 

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