"No matter that patriotism is too often the refuge of scoundrels. Dissent, rebellion, and all-around hell-raising remain the true duty of patriots." --Barbara Ehrenreich

They sprang up after 9/11, cheap, synthetic American flags-no doubt not "Made in American"-sticking out of car windows from coast-to-coast. Months later, all that remained were the sticks and tattered remains of Ol' Glory clinging to life: as if displaying these flags somehow made us whole, as if this was able to identify who was with us and who was against.

What is the impulse that compels us to flag-wave? Is it 'community'? What is it that compels us to identify each other as either for or against a concept? Blue or red? Pro or con? Left or right? Seahawks or Saints? Patriotism is a symbolic act-like the flags and stickers all pledging allegiance.

One of the psychological strategies that cause us to do this is the sociological conditioning categorized by Dr. Cialdini in the book 'Influence' as the 'rule of commitment and consistency'. This rule basically says that we will act with consistency towards any commitment that we make. The minute we make a commitment, we'll tend to start trying to act with consistency towards it.

So we identify with the United States, we supposedly believe in the United States so when there's a problem here, when there's a big upheaval, then we try to back that by saying we pledge our allegiance to the USA.

Early imprinting instills, 'I pledge allegiance to the flag.' I'm pledging my being, who I am, what I believe, to the United States of America. A pledge is a promise. A promise is a psychological contract. That's heavy. We are making a psychological contract to remain 'one nation, indivisible' no matter how bad it gets.

And yet, our patriotism is the only patriotism we can tolerate. How is it that when we see other countries when they're being patriotic as being terrorists? Their patriotism is a negative and ours is the ultimate positive.

Speaking of cults: how about us and our sports teams? Wow. We really buy into this one. We wear the shirts, the hats, put flags and banners up in our windows and bumper stickers on our cars. We argue in a bar with fans of the opposing team. When one of our team's players is accused of doping? Well, . . . Hey, we're all human, right? How about if another team's player is accused? Cheater!

We have a commitment to our team, our religion, our country, our school, our brand of car-whatever the organization or concept or product-and maybe we are just sort of going along with it because it's the way we've always thought, the way it's always been, the way the world works, all we have ever experienced. We've always identified with it and so therefore we're acting with consistency towards it. No critical thought is involved. It's all a knee jerk reaction to a pattern of behavior that we've come to think of as an integral part of ourselves.

What are you committing to in your life? What is it that you are working toward become? What have you agreed to already that you're going to act with consistency towards? What are those things? How can stepping outside of ourselves and our belief systems and thinking about all sides critically greatly enhance our abilities to persuader?