One of the saddest legacies of the Tea Party is this:
When I hear the phrase “traditional family values,” I brace myself for the ignorance that will follow.
That harmless, even lovely, phrase has been appropriated and is now dog whistle for bigotry and intolerance.
Likewise, If I see someone on social media with an American flag in their profile picture or avatar, I also brace myself because--more often than not--patriotism is not part of their world. Not even a little.
Their “American pride” is based on jingoism and nationalism. For all their talk of “the Founders,” they would loathe the intellectuals who drafted the Constitution.
(**Although if they went back 100 years earlier, they would indeed find their spiritual forebears -- the folks who hanged 20 women in Salem.)
The Tea Party: Making Beautiful Things Ugly Since 2008
@redenigma I feel you, I am uncomfortable with flying the American flag at my home because the bigots have taken what was a beautiful symbol of America and soiled it with their uneducated, ignorance and violent rhetoric.