>It seems to me like the whole thing is a choreographed process to show impressionable youngsters who lack self respect that they will be respected by society if they wage war on its behalf.

We all had to do the pledge of allegiance in high school every day. You may see that as an adult, but after doing it for over a decade I was just saying we-puppet instead of republic and never understood what it meant or cared. It was just a habit, like saying death to america or something.