There is generally a lack of patriotism shown in this country these days when compared with how other countries respect and are proud of their country and national identity.

Do you mean pride in your neighbors and culture, or pride in your government?

Personally, the emotion I feel is more like a mix of love and a profound feeling of luck that I happened to be born where I happen to be born (the US). Lucky to be able to have food on the table, to have the opportunity to get an education, and yes, to have a government however flawed whose founders recognized their fallibility. Thus they gave me the (relative) freedom to speak my mind about those flaws and participate in government to help fix them. In the "pride" sense of the word, using that freedom and power.are perhaps the most patriotic things one can do.

Edited by ramboto2 - 19 Jun 2009 at 11:23am