State, Region, or Nation--Which holds your loyalty?

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A post in another thread got me thinking: where do our loyalties lie? Of courst the vast majority of us–I hope!–would count ourselves Catholic first, nationals (in my case, American) later. But what about your region?

I find myself more personally loyal to Central Illinois, and Springfield Illinois (our capital), and even the Midwest, than I am to the United States of America. In my view, how can I not be? These are the people I know and trust, and this is even the landscape that seems home to me.

As for the USA as an entity–well, our democracy has not exactly made me happy recently. I find myself decreasingly nationalistic.

Anyone else feel the same way?
 
consumedconvert said:
A post in another thread got me thinking: where do our loyalties lie? Of courst the vast majority of us–I hope!–would count ourselves Catholic first, nationals (in my case, American) later. But what about your region?

I find myself more personally loyal to Central Illinois, and Springfield Illinois (our capital), and even the Midwest, than I am to the United States of America. In my view, how can I not be? These are the people I know and trust, and this is even the landscape that seems home to me.

As for the USA as an entity–well, our democracy has not exactly made me happy recently. I find myself decreasingly nationalistic.

Anyone else feel the same way?
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Yes, my nationalism has declined. I have actually come to see nationalism (in any nation) as divisive as it implies that one nation - and its people - are better or have more intrinsic rights than those of another nation - often resulting in exploitation and/or war. So I try to think of myself as a citizen of the world, a member of the human race. This was a long time coming for me and I’m just getting started, but I hope to adapt the way I live so that I have the least amount of negative impact on the world and the rest of the folks living in it. It’s difficult, though, what with all the decades the consumerism message has been preached at me/us.
 
I see myself in this order:

Catholic
wife
mother
extended family member
member of my local Catholic community
member of my local community
Citizen of the USA
Citizen of Earth

😃
 
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