# Is there such thing as American patriotism? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2014, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707 "2014-03-02T22:58:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/61 "2014-03-04T22:33:53Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > USA is a home for everyone on Earth. Even Russian Jews? ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/62 "2014-03-04T23:48:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > USA! USA! USA! > > Someone had to say it. And someone had to post this link: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R5A0pg4oN8](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7R5A0pg4oN8) ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/63 "2014-03-05T00:41:25Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > America has not failed me – we can say that while most countries are the home for one nation/culture, USA is a home for everyone on Earth. Sounds like a great place. Imagine how nice it would be if it actually existed. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/64 "2014-03-05T01:39:58Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Even Russian Jews? There are no Russian Jews. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/65 "2014-03-05T16:14:48Z")
What’s the definition of a nation, anyway? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/66 "2014-03-05T16:32:26Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > I am Jewish and there are many Muslims and Hindus and Buddhists in USA. Most Catholic and Orthodox Christians do not consider Protestants Christian. Speaking as a Catholic… Uh, we don’t? News to me (and the Pope, for that matter.) > [@](#): > > The Church knows that she is joined in many ways to the baptized who are honored by the name of Christian, but do not profess the Catholic faith in its entirety or have not preserved unity or communion under the successor of Peter. Those who believe in Christ and have been properly baptized are put in a certain, although imperfect, communion with the Catholic Church. With the Orthodox churches, this communion is so profound that it lacks little to attain the fullness that would permit a common celebration of the Lord’s Eucharist. So, they’re Christians, they’re just not Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/67 "2014-03-05T17:14:13Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Words have meanings, Wait. Since when? I blame Obama for this travesty. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/68 "2014-03-05T17:30:42Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > What’s the definition of a nation, anyway? Apparently it’s having some sort of tribal claims to the land on which you’re currently squatting, an attitude that has done _wonders_ for peace and stability over the past 200 years. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/69 "2014-03-05T18:16:03Z")
> [@CCitizen](#): > > America has not failed me – we can say that while most countries are the home for one nation/culture, USA is a home for everyone on Earth. You know, the diversity of the US is really overstated. The vast majority of Americans speak the same language, believe in the same god, watch similar TV shows, dress more or less alike, celebrate the same holidays, eat similar kinds of foods, read similar books. What regional differences there are are fading. You make it sound like it’s some crazy patchwork of people who have not assimilated at all, which is simply not true. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/70 "2014-03-05T19:47:34Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Apparently it’s having some sort of tribal claims to the land on which you’re currently squatting, an attitude that has done _wonders_ for peace and stability over the past 200 years. :rolleyes: Easy there, John Lennon. If you’re “imagining” a world without nations, you are imagining a world without enforceable laws, systems of redress and protection, regulated food supply, public roads, public education, public works projects, environmental protection, and regulated health care. Hobbes was not just a tiger in a comic strip. Also, check [this](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/22/world-less-violent-stats_n_1026723.html) out. “The number of people killed in battle – calculated per 100,000 population – has dropped by 1,000-fold over the centuries as civilizations evolved. Before there were organized countries, battles killed on average more than 500 out of every 100,000 people. In 19th century France, it was 70. In the 20th century with two world wars and a few genocides, it was 60. Now battlefield deaths are down to three-tenths of a person per 100,000.” Nation states make the world more peaceful, not less. Remember that next time your tempted to roll your eyes, because your opinion on peace and stability is ill informed and dead wrong. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/71 "2014-03-05T20:46:11Z")
I think **JohnT** was making a guess on what the OP considers a nation, which whatever it is doesn’t include the USA. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2014, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/72 "2014-03-05T20:57:34Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > I think **JohnT** was making a guess on what the OP considers a nation, which whatever it is doesn’t include the USA. > [@CCitizen](#): > > Not a nation but a conglomeration of people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. Yup. Therefore, “Russia” is a nation because (I assume) it largely contains people known as “Russian” for as long as the OP can bother to remember. However, since the US is comprised of people who once considered themselves “Russian”, “English”, “African”, etc, and the OP is aware of this, it makes the US not a nation in the sense that Russia is. Like others said, I wonder if the OP feels if Brazil is a country too? Or China? Or India? France? Belgium? Should Germany break itself into Bavaria, Prussia, etc? And while the world is (seemingly) stable _now_, getting to this point was brought about by great bloodshed by people pushing national and ethnic interests throughout the 20th century. Reawakening those old debates does nobody much good - just ask Ukraine. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2014, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707/73 "2014-03-07T05:29:54Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I never really understood patriotism, but you can’t say the USA _doesn’t have it_. Sheesh. According to my brother, his wife, and their daughter, you gotta be a Tea Party Patriot, very religious, vote Republican, support big oil and coal, and several other things in order to be A Real American Patriot. If you don’t fit all of their criteria, then you ain’t. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-such-thing-as-american-patriotism/682707.md?page=3)