[BlueStreak]

"Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all of the loathsome nonsense that that goes by the name of patriotism---how I passionately hate them all."
---Albert Einstein.

"When a whole nation is roaring Patriotism at the top of its voice, I am fain to explore the cleanliness of its hands and the purity of its heart."
--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Patriotism is the conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it."
--George Bernard Shaw

But, I don't think any of these quotes truly expresses my thoughts on the current "patriotic" fever among some of my countrymen, which I regard more as "nationalism" anyhow, as this one;

"Patriotism is when love of your own people comes first; Nationalism, when hate for people other than your own comes first."
--Charles de Gaulle

When I joined the Navy in 1982, it was as Robert E. Lee said of his decision to defend Virginia; "...to defend hearth and home.". (But not necessarily any political party, government or ideology.)

Patriotism, as de Gaulle described, is true patriotism as I see it. A love of ones people; family, friends, and countrymen, but not necessarily any specific ideology. Nationalism, on the other hand, a cancer, a tool used to stir the masses to some nefarious end.

Dave