Great essay John. You should read Veblen on the economic abuse of patriotism. Ever noticed how easy it is to start a war that merely benefits the military/industrial/banking complex? Eisenhower tried to warn us, and the right wing implied he was a communist agent. And Trump thinks any one who refuses to worship him is one as well. Oscar Wilde might have been correct when he said. "patriotism is the virtue of the vicious". Or Samuel Johnson who said: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel".