Well, it's a trait of humans to be nasty to other humans. Governments concentrate the nastiness and make it more powerful. Find a government that hasn't done something bad or downright evil, and then let me use your time machine to bugger off into the future to have a look.

For me, patriotism is loyalty to an ideal. It's about working to make that ideal a reality, or as much of one as possible. It's about looking at all the warts of the past and present to see what to be on guard against, but not to point fingers at people for things they had no control over.

Let the person who's history doesn't include a bit of atrocity throw the first stone, and let those more concerned about what's happening now work to make the world a better place.