Can you be seen as being "patriotic" ; if you support one political party no matter what they do to the country as a whole?

I suppose it depends if the 'harm' is regarded as a necessary evil in order for things to improve in the long run. If it is then I guess that would be seen as being patriotic.

You mean like the people in Russia see war with their neighbour as a necessary evil?

At first glance I'd say yes to this OP question.

But, then, it all depends on what you see as harm, I suppose. What one person, of whatever political persuasion, sees as harmful to society, someone else, whether of the same party or a different one (or none at all as in floating voter), might not see as harmful.

So, as with most political and philosophical questions, I'm left with "it depends".

But I certainly wouldn't support the "my country right or wrong idea".

My patriotism sands entirely with my country. So my support of any political country is entirely dependent on how they behave towards my country.

I'd agree with that, wwm2. I think that's patriotism and the "my country right or wrong" attitude could be unhealthy nationalism. They probably overlap a bit somewhere...

That post of mine is chaotic😄 I should have proof read it!

😂 The message wasn't chaotic.

Smileless2012

I suppose it depends if the 'harm' is regarded as a necessary evil in order for things to improve in the long run. If it is then I guess that would be seen as being patriotic.

I agree with you to some extent Smileless. However, this does mean you should be prepared to hear from all sources about whether the evil IS necessary. Just deciding it is because your party says so is really not patriotic.

Whitewavemark2

That post of mine is chaotic😄 I should have proof read it!

I kwym and I agree (chaotic or not!)

It's the floating voters who are the ones who bring about change 🙂

You can strongly disagree with the politics in your country but still love your country with a passion. Politics isn’t the people, just a bunch of people who are supposed to , but don’t, represent the people.

I make no secret of the fact that I am a member of an anti immigration party which believes in putting British born people first.

I think that people mostly choose their party (at a GE) based on who will do the most good, or if they are pessimists, who will do the least harm.

I am a Labour voter and always have been. I am losing patience over the gender politics issue, and over the reluctance to allow people who stand for office if they do not fit exactly with the views of those at the top. For those reasons I am no longer a member of the LP, but I will still vote for them because I believe that in spite of my differences from the party line they would still be a lot better than the Tories (and for various reasons I wouldn't consider voting Lib Dem).

Is that about patriotism? I don't know.

I’m not absolutely sure what patriotism is or means. I think UKIP and their latest incarnations use patriotism in a very bad and evil way though.

There are many different brands of "patriotism", a concept which sadly , is often hi-jacked by those with extreme views. As long ago as 1775, Samuel Johnson said: "Patriotism is the last refuge of the Scoundrel", and in my view, that still rings true today. Putin, Trump, Kim Jong Un... all cynically exploit it to their own, self-interested ends. I'm not saying that all forms of patriotism are necessarily bad, as National pride which is both inclusive and benevolent can most certainly be positive. As for associating it with any particular political party, I will only ever offer my support to one which accurately reflects my own value system as regards delivering fairness, equality, tolerance and freedom of expression to society. On that score, I have to admit that I'm struggling a bit at the moment..

nanna8

You can strongly disagree with the politics in your country but still love your country with a passion. Politics isn’t the people, just a bunch of people who are supposed to , but don’t, represent the people.

Spot on!

I would only vote for a party that’s manifesto would reflect my own values and beliefs and what I thought was best for my own country (does that make me patriotic?) So in past elections have voted on that basis.
Unfortunately like NanaDana come another election I would really struggle to know who to vote for.

i am scottish and have always voted snp, i want independence for scotland, but after all the problems about the missing money and police involement and i am no longer sure, and i am considering voting labour. i am very patriotic, i am scottish first and british second, i have never had a problem with other countries saying the queen or king of england and i love flower of scotland being played rather than god save the king.....so does that make me patriotic.

It would be interesting to know how you define patriotic when you say "I am very patriotic". What exactly does that mean to you?

Sorry, that was to Nexus

Being patriotic is supporting your country, what is best for people’s quality of life. I do lean towards one party but if it didn't reflect my values and my conscience I wouldn’t vote for them. There are no quick fixes, sometimes unpopular decisions have to be made, you can’t keep borrowing out of trouble. Pandemic package etc cost a fortune, mistakes were made but it hadn’t happened before. There’s a lot of armchair experts. Some people were not patriotic, didn’t think of all the sacrifices the majority made,.
It’s Pride month, once to be really celebrated, now it’s something different, I’m not proud of that any more, it’s become a platform for many extremists.
Boris commented about how we need heroes like those five people who died trying to get to the Titanic bolted into a coffin. .I wouldn’t vote for Boris or his skewed values.

I’m English before British. I support English teams before other teams in the UK, though I’d support a British team in a competition against other countries.
Since I don’t think any government has done the best for their country for a long time, I view politics and patriotism as separate items, so voting patriotically wouldn’t be helpful.

Nexus you do know the SNP "scandal" has been manufactured by outsiders to cause trouble ? There have been no charges made against anyone .Look at the new "sir" Allister Jack whose job and purpose is to destroy the SNP and Independence.
The will of the people of Scotland is that SNP are in charge ...otherwise we wouldn't keep voting for them.Think hard before you vote labour they'll turn us back to their English led system where people come last .No more free tuition for your GC or free bus travel for them helping both parents an dthe environment and a huge list of other GOOD measures put in place in the past decade.
The SNP have done more for SCOTS of all political persuasions than Labour did in the 70 years before .Dont believe LABOUR propaganda ,its meant to divide and keep us from being a NORMAL INDEPENDENT COUNTRY who doesn't hand over is wealth to its next door neighbour Remember Labour and Tories stood on the same platform in the Better Together campaign and where did that get us? Out of the EU and tied to a government in WM we haven't voted for in any numbers since 1955!!

I think 'patriotism' is often used by politicians to manipulate people. Samuel Johnson said 'patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel' when he had William Pitt the then PM in his sights and the same might be said of some present day politicians like Trump but also some much closer to home who lied about the illusory benefits of Brexit and continue to do so. No political party has a copyright on true patriotism but we need to distinguish it from simple minded nationalism.