Because you can't change the concept of a nation. Why should anyone continue to live in, say, America when they are vocally anti-American?

Surely you jest!

Of course you can change the concept of a nation, most especially by protesting the state that the nation is in.

Disagreeing with the current lunacies being perpetrated by my government does not make me anti-American. In fact, if anything it makes me far more pro-American than the jingoistic right-wingers and their "Kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" attitude. The repercussions we will face from that attitude will haunt us for generations to come.

The America I live in today is *not* the America it was five years ago, and if by protesting current governmental policies I can in some degree try to steer it back onto a more reasonable track, I will do so. If that includes setting fire to a piece of tri-colored cloth in order to get people to pay attention to what I have to say -- so be it!

Being pro-American (IMnsHO) means not sitting on one's ass and meekly accepting as gospel whatever decrees are handed down by the government, and refusing to accept those decrees certainly does not make one anti-American.

tanstaafl.