@ Jubba the Mad
Oh dear, this is my fault. Because I had several pro-USA, anti-everywhere else outbursts a while back, instead of defending the United States from unwarranted and uninformed criticisms, all I did was make it seem like people like Headache were right to criticize all Americans. After all, if even the Americans like myself who are against the fundies start acting nationalistic and xenophobic, then one would not be wrong to think that all Americans are hateful and ignorant nutjobs. I am sorry, everyone. I was having a bad day and civility was getting me nowhere.
That being said, Jubba, I doubt that the US is gonna go Nazi anytime soon. If you don't mind me asking, where specifically in the United States did you visit? If you only went to Alabama or Texas or nearby areas then I am not surprised. But there exist parts of the country which are not nearly so overly patriotic and generally ignorant. This is the reason that I hate the South and Midwest; they drag down the reputation of the good parts of America to their level.
Now, let's go through your list one by one. You said that if anyone disagreed with you about America being only a hair's breadth away from fascism to explain why, so that's what I shall do. Flag waving, huh? So you are basically saying that the citizens of a country owning copies of its flag, and even (gasp!) flying them, means that those citizens have latent fascist attitudes? I do not know just how to respond to that, it's so idiotic. And don't public buildings generally have flags on them because they're official?
Now, you bring up something legitimate when it comes to the Pledge of Allegiance (though you are rather disingenuous when you use the word "fatherland", as no American ever uses that word). The Pledge is newer than people think; it was written in 1892 and was never the official thing to say in schools. It didn't become the dominant thing to say in schools until relatively recently. That being said, I don't like it there either. Whether its existence is a valid criticism of the United States is left for the individual to decide. That said, I am pretty sure that similar things exist in other countries.
As for homeland security, no I don't know why it's called that. If I recall, there was quite a lot of uproar from liberals over the name. But all that department does is try to prevent terrorist attacks... it may not always work but it's there for a reason. And again, I have no idea why it is named that. It seems to be a Bushism, since no previous president called the US "the homeland". Of course, that's the department's name, so I guess Obama does not feel like changing it. Of course, he isn't fascist.
Manifest destiny? You're really gonna argue that? Manifest destiny was a concept from the 1840s (at which point, I might remind you, Europe was even worse about blatant racism and nationalism). Please do try to be current. No one these days invokes manifest destiny unironically. Sure, people critical of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan sometimes say that supporters of those wars want "Crusades" to secure "our oil" and that the Middle East must be claimed for "God's chosen people" (more on that later) as part of "manifest destiny" but that is political satire, a joke. It is meant to be a sarcastic criticism of the pro-war side. (And before you ask, yes there are plenty of Americans who oppose the wars in the Middle East. Iraq was about as controversial as Vietnam back in the day. Yet for some reason critics of America tend to assume that all Americans are loud, inconsiderate and jingoistic and that there is no opposition to illegal and unnecessary wars. It's quite annoying.)
And as for God's chosen people... you have obviously been reading this site too much. The average American does not go around claiming that America has been chosen by God and that everyone else is inferior. That belief would be particularly absurd because the US is a nation of immigrants and anybody who wants to can become an American. Saying "God bless America" is a purely benign and innocuous tradition... and one which is not unique to the US. Isn't the national anthem of the UK (to give just one example) called "God save the Queen"? American exceptionalism (which is most likely to what you are referring here) is an artifact of the times when the US actually was the greatest place to live... there was a reason that so many Europeans emigrated (immigrated? I dunno) to the US from about the 1880s to the First World War. Conservatives still believe it is accurate today because they are conservative, that is, behind the times. Conservatives in practically every country believe that their particular country is better than all the rest. If you ever want to hear criticism of the US from actual Americans, just go to any lecture at any Ivy League university. Many many people became disillusioned with their country after the 1960s, the Vietnam war, and later, the Watergate scandal. Note that I am not supporting American exceptionalism here; I am merely explaining why that attitude exists.
In any case, doesn't the very fact that people are able to criticize the United States prove that it is not fascist or even close to being fascist? It's just that conservatives are more prevalent in the South and Midwest, and liberals are more prominent everywhere else. Surely you are familiar with the Jesusland map? (Which, I may add, is political satire. More recent elections have changed things around.) Civil rights and freedoms are still well respected in the United States-- oh, and I almost forgot one thing. To answer your original criticism about Americans being racist or at least distrustful of people from other countries, I must ask what the heck you are talking about. I have come across many people from outside the United States, and not once did I observe anybody being excessively rude to them or not trusting them because they are not American. Can you provide statistical evidence of Americans being ruder to foreigners than say (to use a well-known example) the Japanese (who tend not to be very nice to foreigners in Japan)? Or the French (especially Parisians)? I doubt that what you claim to have experienced was any worse than the heckling that occurs in other countries. Well, I think I addressed everything in your post. Please respond if you have anything more to say.