It was in the 1960s that the left convinced itself that there is something fascistic about patriotism and something perversely "patriotic" about running down America. Anti-Americanism - a stand-in for hatred of Western civilization - became the stuff of sophisticates and intellectuals as never before. Flag burners became the truest "patriots" because dissent - not just from partisan politics, but the American project itself - became the highest virtue.
Jonah Goldberg (2008). “Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning”, p.197, Crown Forum
