Is Patriotism a Good Thing?

To most people, love toward one's country seems perfectly normal, but does that mean someone from Michigan should feel brotherly love for someone in Florida just because of lines drawn by random people hundreds of years ago?  People like to wave and rally around flags, but patriotism isn't always a good thing.

I wasn't quite sure what the line, "'Those are the seeds for war", meant in Vowell's conversation with a group of immigrants. At the time, I didn't quite understand the idea of patriotism and how it could potentially start a war.  Now I know that patriotism often involves placing one's own country above others in the world.  Logically, it would seem that this kind of thinking would cause some violence.

Ideology that places people above others also sounds a lot like racism.  This is the exact patriotic propaganda Hitler used to convince Germans that Jewish people were inferior and the cause of problems.  The reason why many Germans supported Hitler is because it is easier to accept hatred when we find fault in those who provoke it.

Does patriotism even help the country?  Many countries are more patriotic than the U.S., yet we rank lower than several other countries on the liberty scale(according to the World Press Freedom Index).
Patriotism isn't needed to defend values or land in which we all share.

Now, don't think I'm not proud of what my country has done.  It's just that I have limits.  While seeing the good side of our country, I like to criticize it on its wrong doings.  However, to people who think that their country is "best in the world" and will do whatever it takes to prove it, I just don't think it is necessary.

In the Pursuit of Equality

Though equality has been something America has bragged about for a long time, it hasn't actually been around for long.  Woman suffrage was granted in 1920, and African Americans couldn't vote till 1965.  Even though the Declaration of Independence states that "all men are created equal", it intentionally leaves out slaves, minorities, and women.  Historical evidence shows that equality wasn't always one of America's strengths.  

If the Declaration of Independence is supposed to represent the whole country, why does it only account for white males?  In fact, the declaration totally contradicts itself, claiming "liberty and justice for all".  Even the founding fathers themselves had owned slaves. Still, Thomas Jefferson was prepared to criticize slavery, condemning King George to allow slave trading. Unfortunately, his criticism was deleted under a vote by the continental congress.  What did the writers have in mind when writing this document?  The declaration states that it is the government's job to protect individual rights, and upon becoming corrupt, "it is the right of the people to alter or abolish" their government. At the time, this idea was totally new.  Replacing a monarchy with a Republican government was a revolutionary change.

While "the people" today are more widely thought of, the principles of the Declaration of Independence started the American values.  Today, after countless disputes and riots, I can enjoy seeing the different cultures as I walk around my community.  Nowadays, companies will employ without bias towards races or genders, diversity is present, and everyone can decide on who the next best president will be.  While the Declaration of Independence didn't initially start equality, it laid the foundations for it.