To love your country as your mother

Abstract

The practical power of appeals to patriotism implies that patriotism in one form or another is here to stay. As such, arguments for the repudiation of patriotism cannot avoid seeming a bit utopian or ethereal. Practically speaking, we cannot repudiate patriotism and still have effective functioning states. To that end, political philosophers should concern themselves with finding legitimate uses of the potent tool that is patriotism. This article is one part of this project, and in it I consider one small but critical aspect of patriotism: specifically, the legitimate uses of patriotic capital - who should use it and when? Can one be a patriot - a state requiring at least some degree of chauvinism or parochialism - and a good liberal democrat at the same time? My answer is a categorical yes.