Can you actually love a "country"? Or os it a facile figure of speech for something else?

There are key core agreements that make up the foundation of the American national ideal, such as the beliefs named in the Declaration of Independence, and the implications of the original Bill of Rights.

Some of these agreements aren't written down, but are soaked up indirectly, such as the courage of frontiersmen or the sergeant who falls on a grenade for his fellows.

To whatever extent those agreements point a path to a better way of orgaizing our species into groups, they form the basis for my patriotism. I greatly appreciate the notion of the American Experiment started in 1776, and believe the country deserves great credit fr continuing to conduct that experiment.

I think "loving one's country" without being able to identify the factors you actually do love is a slippery slope to unthinking jingoism.

But the truth is, I do love a country -- this one. More than any other reason, because it once held enlightened rationality as an ideal, and may do so again.