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I've been thinking a lot lately about this idea that a positive form of nationalism for the US exists, or as is said here, in my opinion, incorrectly, "People need to belong to something. People need to have, well, a people." washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editor…
The great strength of America has been and is that it has no Volk, no ethnic or racial group that defines it.
Citizens build the nation and national identity through shared political ideals at a federal level and the freedom to associate locally in whatever communities they please.
Historically, attempts in the US to identify a particular group of people--the Volk--in whom the nation's identity rests have led to injustices and atrocities.
I don't think "People need to have, well, a people" is a phrase that can redeem nationalism in the twenty-first century. This doesn't mean we need to jettison the idea of nation states.
US citizens should invest our national identity in a set of shared political ideals rather than measuring Americanness based on ethnicity or religion or any Volkish categories, all of which have led to so many sorrows and never accurately defined America in the first place.
In case all this isn't clear: given 20th-century history (and some before that!), I find the inclination of many people who are eager to redeem nationalism disturbing. And I don't see them really changing the framework in which they're suggesting it should be embraced.
