Only Patriotism Can Save the US From Nationalism
One is inclusive and uplifting, the other vindictive and resentful. And sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, because both dress in red, white and blue.
Ready for 2024.
Photographer: Sean Gardner/Getty Images
It’s patriotism when love of your own people comes first; it’s nationalism when hate for people other than your own comes first. That definition comes from Charles de Gaulle, a former national hero and president of France. It’s worth keeping in mind as we enter an election year in the US, the most consequential country of many where these two deceptively similar and yet utterly contrary forces will clash.
De Gaulle was onto something subtle but big. Patriotism, when you observe that warm feeling welling up inside of you, is fundamentally positive. By contrast, nationalism, whenever you perceive that emotion in you (and we all do on occasion), is negative and potentially jingoistic.