What does it really mean to be Patriotic?

It really seems like the definition or idea of what a Patriotism is has been skewed and essentially been politicized more than it probably ever should have been. I suppose one can argue they go hand-in-hand, and that's not entirely inaccurate, but the polarization of it has really made its meaning unclear.

Well, to me at least.

I mean some people take their patriotism and love for the United States to a whole new level and I can't help but realize how contradictive some of these stances can be. Surely I'm generalizing, but I think there is little doubt these people and mentalities exist within our borders.

First you have these people who drive around with their vehicles adorned in flags (which seemed to become prevalent in the proceeding weeks after 9/11) and sometimes with these bumper magnet ribbons that have some kind of meaning, in many cases about supporting our troops.

I simply cannot even begin to keep count of how many times I've seen these things on Hummers, industrial strength pick-up trucks, Ford Expeditions and Excursions, Chevy Tahoes etc. Isn't the least bit ironic and contradictive that these openly "patriotic" people are also driving vehicles the guzzle gas (aka refined oil) and that a near unanimous amount of hijackers in 9/11 came from Saudi Arabia our biggest provider of oil?

Do these people realize this? (I doubt it) Or do they just justify the fact by driving around an American-made vehicle and say one balances out the other? To me it makes little sense. Was it the Saudi government that did it to us? No. So I suppose it may be silly to hold them accountable, BUT it also wasn't the Iraqi government nor was it even the government in Afghanistan. We're talking about militants, separatists, not actual governments who executed these attacks.

So if we are, as Patriots, going to be satisfied and justified in attacking governments who were not necessarily directly related to the attacks than why exclude Saudi Arabia from the "War on Terror" when many of the hijackers were from there?

It just seems to me that Patriotism has gone from loving your country to being arrogant, idealist and in large part ignorant. I mean look at this stupid criticism that Obama isn't patriotic because he doesn't wear a pin on his fucking lapel. Are you serious? Is it really that big of a deal? I don't think it is, that's for sure.

Maybe right now he's not proud of his country, maybe he's ashamed that it's in the shape that it is and that the current administration has run rampant, it has repeatedly failed the American people and shamed us on the international stage immensely. Some stupid ass pin probably made in China isn't a way to declare your patriotism, the fact he stands up and wants to be our president and do something useful does.

It baffles me how things like this become so important to people. As far as I'm concerned Patriot has become synonymous with idiot. There are few civilian people that are open Patriots that aren't some kind of ignorant, idiots. People with limited perceptions and complete disregard for truth, common sense, or even all the details.

I have encountered some of these individuals in my life and so many of them just have absolutely no grasp of anything. "Nuke em all." "If they ain't with us, fuck em." "If you don't support our president you're anti-American."

This is a mentality of a lot of people, even still, and yet what strikes me as so strange about it all is, they love their country but the 70% of it that hates the president needs to "go move to Canada with the hippies." How can you love your country so much and yet hate such a large portion of people? It's like being in loving someone for the sake of being in love and moreover it's like respecting the "authority" of any asshole who has a badge, even if he/she doesn't deserve it.

Patriotism is equivalent to subservience. The true Patriot stands by the constitution and doesn't allow it to be desecrated by an administration or ideology that wishes to use it to deny citizens rights instead of protect them from the government. A true Patriot is someone who remembers that WE employ politicians and they're accountable to us as much as they are to anything else. A true Patriot doesn't stand idly by and watch our country turn to shit by buying into the propaganda that things are being over-exaggerated. And a true Patriot, in the American sense, isn't a fucking imperialist because if you had half a brain you'd know that's exactly what we fought against in the Revolutionary War to gain our freedom to begin with.

I suppose my earlier question may have been answered. Also, I do understand the post is a little erratic, but my thinking was spaced out over about 3 hours and not all the writing was immediate.