Patriotism, believe it or not, has a Latin stem word, and a Greek suffix. The stem word being "patria", meaning "land of one's fathers" or "fatherland" and the greek suffix "-ism" meaning "the act of" or "state of".

To put these two stems together would equal "the act of... land of one's fathers". Obviously we need to fill in the blank. As you can read above people have many different choices as to what goes into that blank(criticising, disagreeing with).

However, plainly stated, the definition of Patriotism is not up for discussion. and the word that goes into that blank is "love" or "devotion". A strong statement I know, but true. Please do not assume because I use strong words like love and devotion I am trying to conotate this definition, they are simply words, with definitions of their own, that are in the definition of the word patriotism.

Patriotism: n. - the act of loving or showing devotion to one's country.

Let's face it, patriotism is not a political stance or a veiw point. It's an emotion. Just like all emotions, how you choose to display them to the world is entirely up to you.

bleeding- or dying to defend our GOD GIVEN RIGHTS of free expression, freedom to worship GOD, freedom to own property, freedom from government meddling, freedom to life from conception to natural death, freedom to remain silent when accused, freedom of innocence until proven otherwise, freedom of association, freedom of DISassociation

In theory:
Patriotism is a feeling of pride and love for one's country. Common acts of patriotism include erecting a flag of one's country in the home or yard, decorating one's car with as many flags as possible, and singing national tunes!

Criticism:
However, a deeper look into the "patriotic" mentality reveals something more complex and disturbing then the aforementioned phenomena. Why should anyone feel the need to exalt his own country over another? What is so special about his country that makes it so that he is "proud to be a (insert random nationality here)"? And what exactly is he proud of? Is patriotism being proud of one's heritage? If this is the case, then there should be no need to masquerade symbols of pride, for that is just arrogance! It is analogous to a situation where a man is very proud of his personal accomplishments. The man constantly walks around singing about his accomplishments, wearing clothing representing his accomplishments, and even writing books about his accomplishments! Is this not arrogance? Is this necessary? Rather, the man should be inwardly happy about his personal accomplishments, but should carry on with his business without boasting. Just as, in any country, a person should not become "patriotic," but should rather hold an inward respect for his country, equal to his respect for other countries. Because aren't all men created equal? And accordingly, culture, a creation of man, and religion, though somewhat more dubiously, a c...

to be proud of your country because you are too stupid to accomplish anything yourself

The belief that your country is better than everyone elses because you were born there.

I love my country, but I fear my government.

A love or pride for one's country. Popularly assumed to be the same thing as hyperpatriotism, nationalism, and chauvunism, especially by prejudiced (and quite hypocritical) anti-American Urban Dictionary contributors. For reference, note the other definitions on this word for some "witty" anti-American attemps to belittle the people of the United States.

Patriotism in its true form is merely a pride for being a citizen of one's country. A patriot DOES NOT live by the idea that his country's people are superior than others. True patriots, depsite popular belief, do not believe the government is always right, either. Such people are known as meatheads.

For further information on related terms, see nationalism, prejudice, meathead, hypocritical patriotism, hyperpatriotism and chauvunism.

Either you're with us or you're a fucking terrorist.