The recent Republican attempt to pass a anti-flag burning amendment has an interesting affinity with Fundamentalist Christian’s views of the Bible. Fundamentalists worship the Bible, confusing it with God, but pay remarkably little attention to what it actually says. Orrin Hatch and other Republican thugs worship the flag and pay remarkably little attention “to the republic for which it stands.” There seems to be a common theme among leading Republicans and Fundamentalists: confusing symbols for substance, and attacking the substance in the name of the symbol. The same could be said for their “patriotism” – a loud and in your face profession of love of country, while their actual policies undermine both it and its founding principles.
This common pattern is fascinating as an example of mental and moral pathology.