| And that was when it dawned on me. I am not renewing
my demand that Jackie Wilson’s "Higher and Higher"
replace "The Star-Spangled Banner"; I am proposing an accommodation,
not a replacement. "God Bless America" has its place. But
the seventh-inning stretch is not that place. "God Bless America"
does not whip up the urge to kick ass, nor does it instill the desired
fury. It is not for me to say whether that fury is in fact a thing
to be desired; I leave that business to more passionate political
thinkers than I. My position is simple: I know a better song, one
that can bring us all together and put the "jing" back in
"jingoism." |