The Standard College Dictionary defines patriotism as “Devotion to ones country.” It defines nationalism as “Devotion, often chauvinistic, to one’s own nation and to its political and economic interests or aspirations, social and cultural traditions, etc.”

Analysts covering pro-war sentiment have failed to draw this distinction. As I type this, I’m watching a pro-war crowd on CNN hollering “USA!” over and over again. The atmosphere seems much like a high school pep rally. Yes, these people truly believe that Iraq poses a threat to the U.S. and the world at large. Yes, some of them probably have a genuine concern for the people of Iraq and their impending “liberation.”

But I wonder how many of them have a real understanding of how disastrous these policies can be for America over the long term.

In his famous 1990 essay The Misleading Metaphor of Decline, political scientist Joseph P. Nye refuted the common belief that U.S. power was declining, but warned that “nationalistic” policies could be ruinous. At the time, he was referring to Ronald Reagan’s recent decade of defense buildups and huge tax cuts for the rich. Now, 13 years later, we can throw in a war that already has a $75 billion price tag.

When President Bush took office, the government was running a record $236.4 billion dollar surplus. During the optimistic Clinton years, some even predicted that the federal deficit would one day be completely erased. Then Bush quickly flirted with deficits to pay for the whopping $1.3 trillion tax cut he passed in 2001 that was largely squandered on the already prosperous top one percent. Yet he argued in the face of fact that his government would soon be back in black ink.

Then came Sept. 11, and the entire American political climate was turned on his head. Instead of an increased public understanding of foreign affairs, and wiser policy as a consequence, the opposite happened. The “war on terror” began with the justified removal of the Taliban regime, and then spiraled out of control. Bush and Congress quickly passed landmark legislation restricting our rights and returning us to Cold War defense levels as a knee jerk reaction to terrorism. Little debate ensued over whether the U.S.A. Patriot Act would make us any safer, whether the forced detentions were justified or whether it takes half the world’s total defense spending to combat small organizations like Al-Qaeda.

Now the nationalistic fervor is still going strong, but Bush’s current foreign policy, including the war in Iraq, has nothing to do with Sept. 11. And most of the so-called patriots cheering in support of the president’s policies fail to understand just how disastrous they really are to America’s long-term financial solvency. Over the next five years, the federal government projects $1.08 trillion in new deficits.

Sure, Bush didn’t ask for stagnant growth or a war on terrorism, but he chose an unprecedented combination of war and tax cuts that will be enormously expensive. Already, governments at all levels are cutting back funding for such basics at hospitals, police and schools.

In fact, the glorious America we’re cheering for abroad is pathetically neglected at home. For instance, we still have an estimated 800,000 child laborers within our own borders, 44 million citizens without health insurance, millions who have recently been cut off of government support after welfare “reform,” and decaying inner city school systems. While the jury is still out on whether or not Bush will really rebuild Iraq, he hasn’t said a word about rebuilding our own decayed social services.

Bush’s policies treat these virulent problems as if they don’t exist. If the prices for these policies cause a national budget crisis, they will be pushed even further by the wayside. In short, if Bush is reelected and these policies are allowed to continue, the national hangover from post Sept. 11 nationalism will be immense.

There’s an old Cold War saying in Washington that Bush and his Republican guard would do well to heed: A trillion dollars here and a trillion dollars there starts to add up. Sooner or later these problems will be too massive to keep under the rug.

Compared to this, California’s current $30 billion budget crisis will be nothing.

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