Patriotism Same as Racism?

I don't believe this is necessarily true, but taken to the degree many Americans do (as well as other nations as well), I believe it can certainly be considered coming close to racism.  Matt Chandler makes a strong point for this in this strong (and hilarious: he talks about Star Wars at the beginning in classic Chandler, Brian Regan-like, humor) sermon:

If my nation [America] is ultimate [in importance], does that not then force me to look down upon other nations, nationalities, and cultures?  It absolutely does.  If we're the best, if we're ultimate, then that means everyone else is secondary, and that's not too far away from racism.  You put anything else as ultimate [other than God] and things start to break down.

His point is that sin is the root of all of our problems.  The reason we have war is sin, and problems in the economy in America were caused by sin, greed especially.  We Americans don't want to hear that though.  It's never really spoken of that way in the media or by the president.  Instead of being honest and assigning blame where it's due, it's always, "man, we are just having some rough times so we need some more bailouts and stimulus checks."  I think the underlying root of all this is the sinful pride of extreme patriotism.  I'm not against being proud to be an American, but I think it is idolatrous to put up any place as the promised land above another that God has created.


This is especially interesting since most Americans value things like "tolerance", where presumably the attitude above would be far from close.  But a little hypocrisy never hurt anybody...