Response to Barry Sullivan (2/22)

Q1:Should morality be sacrificed in the name of patriotism?
Q2:Can patriotism be anything but immoral?

Generally speaking within the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Stephen Nathanson states that patriotism contains four distinct rules or laws. First and foremost it is defined as a special affliction for ones own country in which one would value with uttermost pride. Secondly the second two laws coincide with one another being that one would have a sense of personal identification with the country (Ex/ I was born in the United States of America therefore I am proud to be an American) and one would have a special concern for the well being of their country (Ex/ I watch the news and believe that this current tax cut (fictitious) would not benefit our economy, therefore my personal opinion should be heard and considered. Now these first three laws demonstrate the positive aspects and qualities of patriotism but the last law (rule) can be debatable and ultimately have a negative connotation. The last law states that and individual should be willing to sacrifice to promote the country's good and well being. However is this situation this law can be extremely inclusive in which anything is not limited. For example is it patriotic to kill in the name of your country or assault someone because they are not patriotic, thus being a vigilante and immoral.

In your current blog post on patriotism, you break down the multiple aspects of patriotism into three distinct categories. In general I do agree with all of your personal aspects and I believe that it would be appropriate that I would answer your questions stated above. For the first question, morality should not be sacrificed in the name of patriotism because an individual should retain their morals previously learned through church or their personal upbringing via parents. In your situation you seem that you come from a christian background and it is the same in my situation. Even though I do not attend church on a weekly basis, the teachings of Jesus Christ are practical in relation to some of the problems we currently face in today;s world. We should love our neighbor like we love ourselves regardless of their ethnicity. Patriotism is far too inclusive and there are no limitations to the concept. Is murdering a middle eastern - Muslim American just even though a person of this ethnicity has been responsible for terrorism in the United States of America? The answer to this question would be no because it would be immoral thus compromising ones ethics and most importantly their personal morals.

For your second question patriotism can be moral in some situations if one is to honor their country like their brothers and sisters. In general there are many people who love our country (USA) because we are free to do whatever we want and nothing is predetermined such as Russia, where communism is prevalent in which one does not have a decision on what they want to do or become. This is the only situation I can generally think about that patriotism would have a positive effect because anything else would just be far too inclusive, thus compromising the concept.