The Star-Spangled Banner, our current national anthem, was written in 1814 and made the national anthem in March 1931. It is set to the music of a popular English drinking tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven” by John Stafford Smith, and is not an easy or appealing anthem to sing, belligerent in its origins and inappropriate to our nation today.
As a peace-loving people, Americans deserve to have an anthem borne from peace and one that inspires instead of one alluding to bombs bursting in air and acts of war. Therefore, we call upon the U.S. government to immediately replace The Star-Spangled Banner with the more melodic, patriotic and peaceful America, The Beautiful by Katharine L. Bates (tune by Samuel A. Ward), acknowledging that its lyrics are far more appropriate to our country.