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.