Reply #111: It does. Rejecting dishonestly used "values" like faith and patriotism would be a start.

[DirkGently]

No one questions someone's faith or patriotism honestly. Did Obama go to church today? Did he bow his head properly? Does he disavow any Muslims in his family history strongly enough? How can you trust someone without a proper flag lapel pin?

For fark's sake, can we grow up as a people, just a bit?

Saluting a flag or going to (the "right") church has zero to do with a person's worth or their ethical, moral, or intellectual virtue. And yet we continue to honor these things, as though flags and churches and who salutes under them with which hand over which body part in which pattern means something.

It does not. How hard is that for us to absorb?

Actions mean something. Ideas mean something. Symbols are only as good as the actions of the people they represent. They have no inherent value. All of this browbeating over whether someone properly abases themselves before a deity or a flag or a song is destructive, and it boils down to nothing other than the same identity politics -- the same claim to entitled cultural dominance -- that obsesses every conserative group in America. We cannot seem to get away from it. We act as though what matters most is which little cultural groups everyone is in and what symbols they adhere to.

Enough all freaking ready. Love your country by working for the betterment of the PEOPLE IN IT. Worship your deity by treating his / her /its creations as though they all mattered as much as you do. Wish your neighbor a happy holiday, whether it's your holiday or theirs. These other things are smoke and gibberish, and they're dragged out, time and again, only when people are arguing for something they cannot support other than by an appeal group loyalty. Kiss the ring. Bend your knee. Cover your heart. Avert your eyes.

All these can be replaced by just about anything that actually means something. "Do good." "Harm no one." "Speak honestly." "Think."