Progressive Patriotism.

A 4th of July Op Ed by E. J. Dionne reminds us that the original patriots were the rabble rousers of their time and that true patriots need not buy the blind allegiance to what any current ruling group defines as patriotic.

Most reformers guard their patriotic credentials by moving quickly to the next logical step: that the true genius of America has always been its capacity for self-correction. I'd assert that this is a better argument for patriotism than any effort to pretend that the Almighty has marked us as the world's first flawless nation.