My Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary defines patriotism as “love for or devotion to one’s country.”
Note that this short definition says nothing about the government of a country. As Mark Twain so well stated, “Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”
Nor is patriotism identical to nationalism, which that same dictionary defines as “loyalty and devotion to a nation, esp: a sense of national consciousness exalting one nation above all others….” Comparisons of one country to another may be as natural as comparing a Honda to a Ford, but the true patriot rejects the extremes of jingoism, avoiding that dangerous descent into blind loyalty to flag and country.
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