God bless America and no place else

From Peter Hopkirk's The Great Game, p. 523, referring to 19th-century British and Russian officers who were involved in the struggle for control of India and Central Asia:

Men such as these, of either side, had few doubts about what they were doing. For those were the days of supreme imperial confidence, unashamed patriotism, and an unswerving belief in the superiority of Christian civilization over all the others.

I wonder what it would be like to believe that. It seems like Americans have lost a lot of their patriotism. We don't have that blustering self-confidence or trust in our government that allows us to believe that everything we do is right and moral. Dr Fears asks his class of 350 if they consider it noble and worthwhile to die for your country. Three people raise their hands. And I doubt they are enlisted.

There are few things for which I would give my life. Territorial gain is certainly not one of them. I don't think I'm crazy, but I'm not sure those 19th-century guys were either. I don't know.