Folks got a sneak peak at the public display of piety on Wednesday during a special meeting workshop on voting rights and redistricting related to the ACLU's lawsuit against the city.
The quotation marks will be gone, but the decision to raise nearly a thousand dollars to emblazon the national motto was made by unanimous vote in May as councilwoman Gail Eastman said it was the patriotic thing to do!
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The phrase comes from a modification of the fourth stanza of the Star-Spangled Banner that reads: And this be our motto: “In God is our trust.”
Francis Scott Key, a slave owner, also wrote the macabre rhyme in the stanza above, “No refuge could save the hireling and the slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” but it's apparently unpatriotic to remember things like that!
And although at least one Anaheimer has argued that it would have been more appropriate to show Minerva some shine with “In Goddess We Trust” instead, we've got a Cold War to win against those atheist commies! Oh wait? This just in: The Soviet Union collapsed more than twenty years ago!
With all the serious concerns surrounding the city it's nice to see the council unite in fiddling while Rome burns. Given the predilection of those in City Hall towards the developer class, though, perhaps some biblical wisdom is in order to serve as a reminder.
It's wordier, and may take a few extra bucks to tack on there, but the caution from Matthew 6:24 about the folly of trying to serve God and Mammon would make a nice addition the next time a hotelier comes knocking for tax giveaway!
Not that it would matter anyway…
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Gabriel San Román is from Anacrime. He’s a journalist, subversive historian and the tallest Mexican in OC. He also once stood falsely accused of writing articles on Turkish politics in exchange for free food from DönerG’s!