Patriotism
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.
It is lamentable, that to be a good patriot one must become the enemy of the rest of mankind. - Voltaire
By Broderick