Patriotism is love for your country and loyalty towards it. They also fostered a sense of optimism and common national purpose that helped steer nascent democracies through the hardships of transition. Jürgen Habermas , Appendix II: Citizenship and National Identity," in Between Facts and Norms: Contributions to a Discourse Theory of Law and
Democracy, trans.
The process of flag bunting is a continuous repetition of small American flags that looks wonderful on porches, railings, or can be wrapped around pillars. Nevertheless, it is possible and sometimes even necessary to distinguish between ones within borders and those beyond as moderate nationalists argue.
Official patriotism relies heavily on symbolic acts, such as displaying the flag , singing the national anthem, saying a pledge, participating in a mass rally, placing a patriotic bumper sticker on one's vehicle, or any other way of publicly proclaiming allegiance to the state.
For them it is also the primary source of knowledge about our national heroes, martyrs, the struggles and sacrifices of our forefathers, the work of our social reformers, the wars of the pre-and-post-Independence era, including the recent and ongoing war against cross-border terrorism, and our achievements as a free and democratic nation.
What lies behind this odd linguistic practice is the understandable desire to avoid the many negative connotations of "nationalism", which result from all the wars, dictatorships and organized irrationality that characterized the best known nationalist regimes of the last century.
The building of national monuments does much in the way of promoting a pride and acknowledgment of the state, as do events such as veteran days and other ceremonial enactments. Whenever a country is at war, people are more vocal about their patriotism, playing patriotic songs and making speeches full of national pride.