I heart the USA

Someone recently told me that the Soviet Union's Anthem was vastly superior to and more grown-up than ours. While I grant the latter, let me point out that "more grown-up" generally means "more boring." For your contrasting pleasure, I shall post both and perhaps you will see why I prefer ours. Ours is unique: one long question whose only point is, is our flag still there? In that question is contained the essence of our country: we came to exist only through great struggle and our youth and immaturity, rather than hindering, give us the vigor we need to sustain ourselves, especially since we're ever-expanding. True, most countries have more history and therefore more instances of struggle for survival, but in 2 centuries, we've packed in plenty. Look at Iwo Jima: four men, weary from battle struggle just to erect our flag. We have strict laws regarding maintenance of our flag and only a very few ACLUesque weirdoes ever question that. Flags symbolize everything by their very nature and having an anthem about a flag, even if it was written by a poet who was merely straining to see if it still waved, is immensely appropriate. It is not often that we symbolize something so powerfully and I can think of no better way to artistically express patriotism than a hope that our flag has not been desecrated or pulled down in the midst of battle.

Unbreakable Union of freeborn republics,
Great Russia has welded forever to stand.
Created in struggle by will of the people,
United and mighty, our Soviet land!

(chorus:)
Sing to the motherland, home of the free,
Bulwark of peoples in brotherhood strong.
O Party of Lenin, the strength of the people,
To Communism's triumph lead us on!

Through tempests the sunrays of freedom have cheered us,
Along the great path where Lenin did lead.
Be true to the people, thus Stalin has reared us,
Inspire us to labor and valorous deed!

In the victory of Communism's deathless ideal,
We see the future of our dear land.
And to her fluttering scarlet banner
Selflessly true we always shall stand!

Nice (if you're a dirty commie), but borrrrrrrrring and full of s***. Every country thinks it's unique and noble. But The Star-Spangled Banner makes no outright claims to our land being unique and great, only that it's ours and we love it for that. I've heard the Russians still love this anthem and get emotional, but you get emotional because of your patriotism, not b/c of the song itself, especially if the song isn't very remarkable- for example, in Casablanca the French emigres drowning out the Nazis and the sleazy Frenchwomen who were flirting w/ the Nazis got tears in their eyes and sang loudest of all-maybe people really see value in their own anthems because we can't separate the patriotism from the music, but I'm pretty sure I'd love America's anyway. So here it is. I know there are more verses (Mr. & Mrs. Ferrier both know them all, God bless them), but the first verse suffices.

O, say, can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?