First, allow me to back up and relate a conversation I had two months ago with a friend of mine, a Harvard student whose intelligence and integrity I deeply respect. We were studying in Beijing for the summer and, after a weekend excursion to Inner Mongolia, stood awaiting our return train from Hohot. Our conversation centered around the text of the following day’s lesson: an article from the People’s Daily, China’s main state newspaper, that criticized the social and economic structure of the United States. After venting my frustration over what I considered a highly biased piece of writing, my friend turned to me.

“You’re pretty patriotic, aren’t you?” he asked.

“Yes. I am.”

“You know, I feel almost no sense of patriotism at all.”

Pause.

“That’s right,” he continued. “When is it that Americans feel most patriotic? When we are at war. And why do we go to war? For completely selfish reasons.”