I suggested a new state anthem for Minnesota (lost to the internet now, alas) some years back. But that was in the quaint, distant, antebellum past. Today, as an embattled sovereign jurisdiction, we face circumstances calling for something a little more bellicose.

I posted about the popular southern song of the Civil War, “The Bonnie Blue Flag,” the other day.

I must have been off my game, because it didn’t occur to me at the time that our new, much-vaunted, progressive state flag (shown at the top) is indeed, a bonnie blue flag, bearing a single star.

It was for me the work of but a few hours to come up with the following new anthem for my beloved state, to which I vow eternal loyalty:

We are a band of siblings, we live on stolen soil, 
And when it starts to freeze outside, our blood begins to boil; 
So when our graft was threatened, we rallied to Omar, 
Hooray for the Bonnie Blue Flag, that bears a single star.

Hurrah! Hurrah!
For Gopher graft hurrah!
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!

As long as good old Uncle Sam looked off the other way, 
Cheap labor and big money grants made public service pay. 
But now that pesky auditors have rushed in from afar 
We hoist on high the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!

Hurrah! Hurrah! 
For Gopher graft hurrah! 
Hurrah for the Bonnie Blue Flag that bears a single star!