β¦A nationalist is not a patriot. A nationalist encourages us to be our worst, and then tells us that we are the best. A nationalist, βalthough endlessly brooding on power, victory, defeat, revenge,β wrote [George] Orwell, tends to be βuninterested in what happens in the real world.βNationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others. As the novelist Danilo KiΕ‘ put it, nationalism βhas no universal values, aesthetic or ethical.β
A patriot, by contrast, wants the nation to live up its ideals, which means asking us to be our best selves. A patriot must be concerned with the real world, which is the only place where his country can be loved and sustained. A patriot has universal values, standards by which he judges his nation, always wishing it wellβand wishing it would do better.
On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder
