Glaring sins is basically how we can tell our historical figures apart in history class (you know the king that was extra ugly due to inbreeding, the one that liked to have a bajillion lovers, the one that was a religious nut, etc).

I can't think of a single historical figure that is treated with reverent respect to the point that such a jab would cause even a blink, _including religious figures._

The fact that Jefferson owned slaves doesn't really cast any shade on what he had to say about aborculture.

"Patriotism" has been promoted to extreme lengths in the last century, with fun shit like the Pledge of Allegiance. (Where would we be had we pledged allegiance to the king instead of having a revolution?) And "un-American" heretical ideas like communism were weeded out with religious fervor.

I think the massive reduction in frequency of Constitutional amendments is related. We were supposed to be improving and adapting our democracy on the fly, but now we've been convinced we're supposed to treat is as holy writ instead.