It seems to me that our country is largely founded on a consequestialist sense of patriotism. I say this because in its conception, it was created as an agreement between states to cooperate with each other for the mutual benefit of everyone involved. It therefore involves an agreement between citizens to practice loyalty for beneficial consequences. This reminds me of John Rawls' idea of political constructivism, according to which citizens agree to certain political principles that they arrive at through the practice of free rationality, on the grounds that such principles seem to embody reasonable terms of cooperation. In addition to this, people who are born in the United States often develop a more deontological sense of patriotism, whereby they feel an attatchment and sense of favor for there country on less practical, though perhaps equally arbitrary grounds, such as a more emotional favor for the place where they were born, and the people and culture with which they have grown up. This latter form of patriotism obviously involves a greater sense of passion than the former, and there is good reason to think that people should feel passionate about the place where they live, partly because the capacity for emotional integrity makes possible an understanding of it, which is essential for humanitarianism. However, does this latter form of patriotism, lacking rational principles, involve a greater danger of slipping into imperialist nationalism?