That's the point. Americans, probably more than most, live in the "as if" world of (fairy tale) myth. Maybe its the movie culture that dominates so deeply. The icon stars are not so much the problem as the producers, directors, purses who "panderize" so broadly, deeply and for so long that the "image" becomes the "as if" reality. What was the Jim Carry movie...?  
The "flag" is sufficient; the "tear" at the "Spangled Banner" does it; the "cavalry" will not only come over the hill to save us but John Wayne "IS".