What Does it Mean to Love America?

Last week Steve Sailer referred to one of his old V-Dare articles ttp://www.vdare.com/sailer/patriotism.htm
in which he opined that immigrants seeking citizenship might be induced to "love America" by performing mandatory community service. The interesting aspect of the article for me was the question of what it means to "love America". Sailer is skeptical of the notion that America is "propositional" and instead argues that to love "America" is to love its people rather than a set of abstract principles.

I agree with Sailer and would prefer to see immigrants (indeed everyone) thinking of "America" as their neighbors and community rather than as an abstraction. The controllers of the United States Government would probably prefer for everyone to conflate America with the United States and for all citizens to consider it legitimate and worthy of unflinching and unquestioning loyalty. I do not equate America with the USG, and I both love America and despise the USG. The "patriotic" souls I have known tend to give too much benefit of the doubt to the USG and would, if ordered to do so by the government, turn on their neighbors. Such "patriots" enable abominations such as the Patriot Act and show me and mine no love in so doing.

In many ways, the concept of "America", even if it is not conflated with the USG, may be too much of an abstraction to love. All nation states are imaginary, after all, and any mindless adherence to a collection of people solely because they live within a specified territory or descend from a supposed common ancestor seems irrational and potentially dangerous to me. What kinds of claims on my affection and resources should be recognized on the basis of shared nationality alone? Why should these claims take precedence over shared humanity?