Fourth of July -- Thomas Paine on patriotism

"There is not a vice, nor scarcely a virtue, that has not as the fashion of the moment suited been called by the name of patriotism ... But if we give to patriotism a fixed idea consistent with that of a republic, it would signify a strict adherence to the principles of moral justice, to the equality of civil and political rights, to the system of representative government, and an opposition to every hereditary claim to govern; and of this species of patriotism you know my character." Thomas Paine to James Monroe - October 26, 1794.