Today, I'd like to take a break from the series I've been rolling out to discuss patriotism in honor of Independence Day. We should always be grateful for our country and what it affords us, but I think the 4th of July is a great time to stop and reflect on that more deeply. So, I want to look at this topic generally, but also specifically in regards to my love of my country and my heritage.
It can be hard to offer a patriotism definition, largely because it encompasses so much. Basically, I look at it as a love for one's own country and a recognition of and gratitude for what his country offers. That is not normally how I find people describing it. We often misconstrue American patriotism, for instance, by limiting it to assenting to the values our founders described. While I think a patriot is one who does love the founding of his country, I think there can be room for criticism or dissent. Also, it encompasses more than just that - especially since many nations have been founded on different grounds.
I do think there's a difference between patriotism and nationalism, but it's nuanced. To understand that, I'd like to point to the American founding. A nation is "a relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government; a country." (via The American Heritage Dictionary)
Justice demands us to love our country and be grateful to it. But, as we saw in early America, a unified people can fall apart. By the time of our founding, we were in many ways a separate nation, which is how our founders justified their separation.