The ignorance in this country is scary. People pushing the flag/country worship need to be told the law. The pledge is an especially egregious issue and is more often broken than obeyed. This inclusion of "under God" makes no difference!!

Rituals are interesting to observe and study. Sometimes they mask what's really going on, as Trump has clearly demonstrated with his faux-patriotism.

Some honest and sincere rituals generate comfort, stability, and a sense of being connected, while often also satisfying our need for roots. But rituals can also be hurtful and fundamentally false.

Which reminds of a story a client shared with me years ago involving her ex-husband. Whenever in public, with friends and family, he always gave the impression that they had a loving marriage, respectful and honest. He gave the world the impression that they were a loving, happy family. But they weren't.

And one day when she could no longer stomach his disrespect, and could no longer pretend that all was sugar and spice, she confronted him about his 25 years of ongoing affairs and what she saw as his betrayals.

So why had she put up with his psychological and sometimes verbal abuse? First her mother had convinced her that it was her lot as a married woman; my client also admitted that she was neither assertive or confident enough to sever the painful umbilical chord and strike out on her own; with few skills after having married him immediately after graduating high school, she had no idea how she could possibly be a single parent. She was married in the 50s, a very different time.

Until one day, she could no longer stand the pain. In fact, her husband's rituals had been as hurtful, dishonest, and as misleading as Donald Trump's.

Call me biased, but if it smells like skunk weed, it won't be a rose bush. LOL

Honestly I would be extremely offended by his efforts to force patriotism if I were a vet. Our soldiers went and fought, died, and killed to secure the freedoms we have. To then just throw away the thing they just paid such a high price for is insulting in the extreme.

Agreed!