It's almost July, and once again we're facing the most patriotic weekend of the year, when you can bet you'll be hearing at least a little high-flown talk about what it means to be a real patriot. (Hint: In today's atmosphere of public discourse, the guys who aren't patriots belong to whatever political party isn't yours.)

The dictionary defines patriotism as "devoted love, support and defense of one's country; national loyalty." A relatively few Americans demonstrate their patriotism "in the defense of one's country," at least in the literal sense; and all props and respect to them. The rest of us will be patriotic by putting up a flag, watching fireworks and eating hot dogs.

Over the years, some of us have tried to demonstrate our national loyalty by "buying American." But in today's confused global economy, this has become increasingly ambiguous (what if it's made here with imported parts? What if it's made there with American-made parts? What exactly constitutes "made in the U.S.A." anymore?). Even the most rabid self-proclaimed patriot can't claim to have never bought cheap imported goods at Wal-Mart, driven a foreign-made car, or eaten fish from China, vegetables from Mexico or meat from Canada (according to USDA's "U.S. Food Import Patterns, 1997-2007").