They believe that their way of life is "the American way of life" accept no substitutes. I've seen his shit all my life. Back when I was a kid I grew up in a family full of racists like a lot of us did back then in the south. As the 60s wore on into the 70s and integration became more and more a fact of life, I witnessed a kind of begrudging "acceptance" start to take shape. It became ok for my parents and their friends to have black "friends" as long as "they talked white and acted white". And even then they were most often held at arms length, never really allowed into the club and showed the secret handshake of you will. It was a "our way or the highway" kind of thing back then. And the white people that acted this way eventually started to pat themselves on the back for "not being racists".
Fast forward to today. It's a bit more veiled than it used to be but pull back that veil a little bit and it's still there. Most of the good gawd-fearin' Christian republicans I know here in Oklahoma still think and act like what I described above. And sure, it's not as much about race as it was back then, but to be sure, it's still very much about being like them. They believe that they ARE true American society, They believe they are the patriots. They believe "freedom" means freedom to live like them. they believe it's fine for people like them to get things from the government but no "handouts" for outcasts, deviants and malcontents. And they turn on their AM radio and Faux News every day to be reassured that they are the true "America".
I believe as a progressive, to stay true to my beliefs I have to be as tolerant of them as I would like them to be of me. If they want to live like June and Ward Cleaver? Hey, I'm fine with that, more power to them. That's their church on the corner? I'm happy they have it and would still fight to defend their right to go there.
Where I draw the line is when they want to have a government that caters to their narrow views and makes/enforces laws that try to force me to live by their standards. Then we have a problem. I'll leave their Kincaid paintings and Precious Moments collection alone if they'll leave my lava lamp and bong alone, I'm a live and let live kind of guy 
But too many of them think they are on a mission form gawd to "clean up the country" or some such nonsense. I just hope they slowly fade into insignificance....
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