[JohnGalt]

It's more of an aesthetics' issue.

Patriotism, love of the land of our fathers, has always been considered a positive trait in Western culture.

Nationalism, a rather arbitrary love of political borders, has always been considered lower and often leads to dangerous outcomes.

For example, the nationalist believes his country is always right, where as a patriot tends to believe in his country, right or wrong, which suggests that his country is capable of being wrong.

As an aside, nice catch with the comment on Utopia's but take it a step further. The War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, the War on Terrorism are all utopian ends that can never actually end.

[gcruse]

The "War On" syndrome is, agreed, a utopian tool of the times.
We can't win, we can't break even, and we can't get out of the game.