>>All that respect for and waving of flags makes me feel a bit uneasy...
I used to find it refreshing to see people reminding themselves every day about their nation and how proud they were to be part of it. Yes it's groupthink, but surely it's positive for morale and helps keep things in perspective that no matter your trials and tribulations, you're still part of the mightiest Republic there ever was, with plenty to be thankful for. But now it's being politicized and made into another stinker. Oh, well.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1
