Hobgoblin of Mediocre Minds Dept.

Armed Liberal delivers an excellent sermon on patriotism in the American context. I, myself, was ranting against the dangers of civic religion just last week. Oh, well. Foolish consistencies and all that. Go read it. Especially if you think that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" - he makes the excellent point that this position is roughly analogous to the notion that child abuse is the highest expression of parental love.