Good points. I'd point you, incidentally, to an essay by Mark Twain on, I
believe, the Boxer rebellion, in which he dissects the phrase "my country
right or wrong," the earliest use I've ever seen of that phrase. Also A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, which has some very serious
commentary on what *is* patriotism, what what *is* the Nation?

Uncritical jingoism is as inherently unpatriotic as uncritical attacks. It's
important to see what a goverment does that is good, by our ability to
perceive the good, and support it...and to find what is in need of redress,
and fix it. But either way, we have to be honest about what we see, and ask
ourselves if it's right. Even if we come back toward saying yes, it *is*
right, at least we've thought about it, and now have reasons and objective
criteria for *why* it's right. Or why it's wrong.

jms