American Flag Oppressed on College Campus

Oh 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?

What could be more American than the rockets' red glare and bombs bursting in air? Unfortunately, it seems some green-lovin', tree-huggin', hippie communists at Goshen College disagree. Matthew Hurtt at RedState reports the disturbing news:

The Star-Spangled Banner was banned at Goshen College, a private, Mennonite school, because of, according to President Jim Brenneman, the college’s value of “compassionate peacemaking seeming to be in conflict with the anthem’s militaristic language” – referring to the “rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air” lyrics.

So what did the few good patriotic students at Goshen College do? They protested. And thank God they did:

On Sunday March 14, Goshen College will honor America with the national anthem for the first time – and it is thanks in part to Ryan Troyer and his freedom-loving friends.

Freedom loving indeed. Never mind the fact that they could play the song on their own if they wanted. Everyone knows what's really important in college. No, not beer. Football. If the national anthem was banned from football games, how could the anthem spend its Sundays? What did the poor national anthem ever do to deserve such hate from the administration at Goshen College? What next, will colleges ban guns from football games just because they can be used for violent purposes? Remember: people kill people, the national anthem doesn't kill people.

You know...I don't think Ryan and his friends went far enough. The national anthem is great and all, but it loses its meaning if there aren't literal rockets and bombs exploding while its played. Every football game at Goshen college should be like the Fourth of July.

We should also take a moment to acknowledge the brave fight Ryan and ordinary, patriotic, commonsense Americans like him are engaged in.

The battle for conservative values on college campuses is not an easy fight, but as Ryan and his friends have shown, it can be won. If your school practices a policy that infringes upon your conservative values, or if you would like to start a conservative group on campus for fellow freedom-loving students, the Campus Services Coordinator in your region can help you plan your first steps toward action.

Indeed, I couldn't agree more. How dare a small, pacifist college like Goshen infringe on Ryan's conservative values? Every eighteen-year-old American has the God given right to go to any college he chooses and expect them to develop their policies around his preferences. That's the American way.

UPDATE: In case anyone still doubts that Goshen is an anti-American institution, they don't even have a football team. Seriously.