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Entry: Nationalism is What We Need Now--The Case for an "Unpatriotic Conservatism" Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/nationalism_is_what_we_need_now_a_case_for_an_unpatriotic_conservatism#23378 Post contents: One question that those who wish to redefine "nationalism" and "patriotism" really need to ask themselves is this: What will be accomplished by the redefinition? All too often, as I've remarked on this site before, the purpose of the redefinition seems to be something like this: "I like the term nationalism; people I like are derided as nationalists by people I don't like; people I don't like insist on calling themselves patriots. Therefore, let's redefine nationalism so that it's something more like the traditional definition of patriotism." (I sense a certain amount of that even in this essay.) But again--what is accomplished by that redefinition that isn't accomplished by strict adherence to the traditional distinction? And how does this redefinition not simply cede ground to those who have inappropriately appropriated the term "patriotism" for themselves? The correct response to David Frum's "Unpatriotic Conservatives" is not for true patriots to abandon patriotism and to embrace nationalism; it is, instead, the response we offered at <i>Chronicles</i>: What makes a Canadian Zionist think that he has any right whatsoever to define American patriotism? Sent at: 2008 05 16