Freedom

In general I am often mystified about the time and effort put in by some on the right over issues that have no real bearing on anything.

Take Hillary Clinton.  We still see a fair number of attacks made on her despite the fact that she isn't running for anything.  Most of the attacks were never really relevant but they were considered successful in swinging those few states so its viewed as a winning strategy.  I can't imagine it is.

The playbook seems to be to find an issue that does well in focus groups and milk it for as long as you can.  They have backed off from attacking the ACA since it is now popular with the public (they still attack it in court).

The general theme is that some elite group out of touch with the "real" America is imposing their ideas on the country.  The evidence they present is almost always anecdotal or in fact often just false.

Take saying the pledge of allegiance in school.  I actually have no idea how prevalent this is nowadays and I really don't care.  It becomes rote and generally ignored by the great majority of the students.  More effective would be to spend time discussing things that make this country great.

It is also important to provide our future citizens with both the good and the bad things about this country.  We treated the Native Americans badly, condoned slavery for hundreds of years, and have some major issues today with inequality and racism, among others.

We did create a marvelous economy and provided a home for millions of oppressed people form the rest of the world.

We have a nation with a constitution, which while hardly perfect, has provided a framework allowing the nation to thrive.

Celebrate our greatness, improve upon it and create a nation we all proud of.

Freedom doesn't mean we all march in lockstep.