Did I say I a divided United States? Oh, maybe it was my getting what Garrison meant in his satire. On the other hand-we planned each weekend (and holy day) we were out in effort to ensure we got to mass, at which my brothers were encouraged to use their otherwise weekly-honed 'server' experience in a new setting. I remember a lot of flag waving around the Fourth of July and other times at individual homes we supposed were of retired service people. I don't recall much overt patriotism as that was't at issue. It was a given-we were American-we all were. As for the god fearing out there-I don't remember a lot of flags in the Amish communities we visited, or the occasional synagogue, Lutheran, Methodist, LDS or Baptist church we went to or tried to visit. I don't think there was a flag on the t-shirt either of the man we saw stop on a street in Boston all those years ago and kneel to pray as we marveled when our folks folks explained he was Muslim and did that several times a day...