I'm not sure that a satirical character in The Simpsons can be taken as representing very many Americans, Richard --

You're forgetting that the phrase was picked up & used in session and out by a large cadre of (Mostly Republican)idiots in the U.S. House of Representatives and that august body also officially re-named French fries (a.k.a. chips) as Freedom Fries.

Such is the idiocy that sentient beings in the U.S. of A. have to put up with on an ever more frequent basis.