‘Nuestro Himno’ madness

May 2, 2006

Michael had a terrific guest post yesterday on the bizarre controversy surrounding singing the [tag]national anthem[/tag] in [tag]Spanish[/tag], but I thought I’d add to it today by noting that when it comes to this issue, the Republicans have just begun to fight.

Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) introduced a resolution yesterday calling for “The Star-Spangled Banner” and other traditional patriotic compositions to be recited or sung solely in English.

The resolution states that the national anthem, the [tag]Pledge of Allegiance[/tag] and other “statements or songs that symbolize the unity of the nation … should be recited or sung in [tag]English[/tag], the common language of the United States.”

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) co-sponsored the bill, as did Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sens. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska).

On the Senate floor, Alexander worried aloud that “translating our national anthem will actually have the effect of dividing us.” As Atrios put it, “We are really living in stupid times.”

How stupid? Well, for one thing, in 1919, the U.S. Bureau of Education commissioned a Spanish-language version of “The Star Spangled Banner.” The State Department’s website also features four-separate versions of the anthem in Spanish.

For another, President [tag]Bush[/tag] may have criticized a Spanish-language version of the anthem last week, but Candidate Bush sang it quite frequently in 2000 while on the campaign trail.

I realize it’s a xenophobic hot-button, but as culture wars go, this “Nuestro Himno” madness is a special kind of stupid.

Update: Jon Secada apparently sang the national anthem in English and Spanish at Bush’s first inaugural.

Hmmm…I seem to remember something in the Constitution about Congress not being allowed to “abridge the people’s freedom of speech.” So now, given that these “senators” (using the lower-case “s” for a reason here) are violating their Constitutional mandate, maybe we can bring them up on charges as well—come the midterms.

T-minus 189 days, and counting….

  • This smacks of Flag burning. Which is to say, it’s a go nowhere, do nothing issue brought about for the purpose of dividing people against each other.

    For me, this and the illegal immigration have little to nothing in common, but I suspect many will have trouble seperating the issues.

  • The worst part of all of this is that there is a not insignificant portion of Americans who would agree whole-heartedly with Lamar and his co-sponsors. They would wonder why we coast-dwelling, Birkenstock-wearing, Volvo-driving, sushi eaters would NOT back such a resolution.

    These Congresspersons may well be representing the sentiments of their constituents more than I care to admit. And that is what keeps me up at night.

    -Chief

  • Yep, looks like we’re getting yet another wedgie, courtesy of the GOP.

    Stupid is as stupid does.

  • In need of a hot-button issue to ramp up the base in a dismal election year, the Republicans turned to what is usually a safe and effective tactic for them – get everybody all upset about brown people, who have been reluctant to come forward in the past and therefore a no-risk target.

    What a surprise when those previously meek brown people decided that they didn’t want to be victimized (again!) by the Republicans for mere opportunistic partisan gain. They actually rose up and declared that they are here, they are strong and they are not going away.

    Now the sleeping dragon has been awakened, and the Republicans are starting to do a collective, “Oh, my god, what have we done??”, especially when they realize that they’ve effectively alienated a massive voting block who are now energized to take action on a scale never seen before.

    Oooooo, I am going to enjoy this!! 🙂

  • Anytime Bill Frist, Pat Roberts, & Ted Stevens are on board with something, I almost know that I am going to hate the idea.

    That being said, this is simply a no-force resolution that will probably not even come to a vote. This was simply a PR stunt meant to generate publicity for Repulicans who hate brown people.

  • Well, I’m pretty sure that even if Congress does pass a bill banning non-English singing of the Anthem, Bush will make a signing statement exempting himself from having to observe the ban.

  • Oh, the horrible hypocrisy of Boy George II.

    Really? The State Department has FOUR versions?

    And for some reason, it’s not a problem until brown-skinned people actually start to sing it.

    We have to keep pounding on the idiot Republicanites on this.

    Please add the link to the State Department web site.

    Thanks

  • Flag burring, English as a national language, and now this…….. Focus on the non-issue to distract from important things. Sigh. Is anyone else getting tired of this crap???

  • Hey- You Gotta Love It!

    After all, the Republicans have been making inroads in the Hispanic population for years (in 2004, if I remember correctly, they pulled something like 40% of the Hispanic vote). How about we start a betting pool on how much under 10% of the Hispanic vote they get in ’06? I see no detrimental effects of this one, or most of the other Conservative ideas (e.g. abortion: note to Republicans. Outlawing abortion would mean that the immigrant population grows even faster!)

  • As a matter of taste, I wouldn’t dream of singing “La Marseillaise” in English (or “La Vie en Rose” for that matter), nor would I sing “Deutschland über alles” (or “Lili Marlene”) in English, though I thought nothing of singing the “Internationale” in English. I think Steve got it right: under our Constitution we can sing anything we damn well like. And yes, knobboy (#8), the Canadians must be laughing their asses off.

  • If they don’t like Nuestro Himno, we could always pipe up that old standby, “The Hymn of the Soviet Union….”

  • Well, I’m pretty sure that even if Congress does pass a bill banning non-English singing of the Anthem, Bush will make a signing statement exempting himself from having to observe the ban.

    Exactly right, albeit tragic. The hypocrisy is astonishing.

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