Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies is dangerous. They will always equate their policies with patriotism and find criticism subversive.
There is a fuzzy but real distinction that can and I believe should be made between patriotism which is attachment to a way of life and nationalism which is the insistence that your way of life deserves to rule over other ways of life.
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The higher American patriotism on the other hand combines loyalty to historical tradition and precedent with the imaginative projection of an ideal national Promise.