Reply #4: It is indeed both. Patriotism is good. Nationalism and jingoism, awful.

[No Elephants]

And, yes, way too few people vote.

Do you know that the census bureau cannot even tell us how many Americans are eligible to vote, but do not bother to register or, if registered, do not bother to vote?

I actually wrote in and asked after the 2004 election.

The Bureau replied that it does not collect that kind of information and does not know of anyone who does collect it.

Amazing that, as far as I can tell, no one cares about statistics about how many voters don't vote.

I could speculate about why people lack interest in voting. However, it would be only speculation.