Patriotism, not nationalism, should inspire the citizen. The ethnic nationalist who wants a linguistically and culturally uniform nation is akin to the racist who is intolerant toward those who look (and behave) differently. The patriot is a 'diversitarian'; he is pleased, indeed proud of the variety within the borders of his country; he looks for loyalty from all citizens. And he looks up and down, not left and right.There is a problem with the word nation -- taken to refer to a people or ethnic group, then it seems absurd for one particular ethnic group to be linguistically and culturally divided. How is it really an united ethnic group with out a common culture? But I assume he is talking about the modern nation-state (or a multi-ethnic federation/empire), one that is prone to suppressing the legitimate cultural aspirations and exercises of its constitutent communities and peoples. If he were talking about a smaller political community, an ancient Greek polis, for example, I'd say that he was wrong. But I do not think he intended for his remark to cover all polities of all sizes.
The common good the good of a community; can a single polity (as opposed to a federation or empire) have more than one people? If two peoples intentionally keep themselves separate from one another in all affairs except trading, do they really constitute one community? It seems not.
A tribute by Fr. Rutler to the professor.
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