What is patriotism?

Over the 4th of July weekend I saw published interviews with Obama and McCain on the meaning of "patriotism". According to Answers.com:

Love of and devotion to one's country.

I don't see how the candidates were ever going to beat that definition.

A better question might have been posed:

"What should an American do now to best express patriotism?"

I suppose the right answer for this country, with its legacy of individual liberty, is that each person should serve his country as he/she thinks best and most appropriate, in accordance with his/her possibilities.

Incidentally, did you know that more colonists served in the forces loyal to the English king than in the revolutionary forces during the revolutionary war, and that the victory of the rebels was more due to the French and to 3,000 soldiers who signed up for the rebel army for the duration of the war (many of whom were former slaves or new immigrants) than to the citizen soldiers of the colonies?