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I think a lot of people are missing the point.
How many people here are proud of their country? Or their race? Or the fact that they come from a good family? Whatever, pride or identification with something you had nothing to do with, that you can only have been told about, or learnt, or seen on TV is something that is a very powerful social and political force, and I'd think that most of the time it is wrong.
Identifying with the Founding Fathers, or the English Aristocracy, or the KKK (and adopting their traditional emnities) just because you happened to be born in a particular location, to particular parents is a very short-sighted way of looking at the world.
Not that anyone is doing that here, but I'm sure we can all think of people we've met, known, or are currently running for president who appear to hold these arbitrary beliefs. I'm also sure that many of us would find things that we hold true about ourselves that wouldn't stand up to scrutiny because we've assimilated them as we've grown up.
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