Here are some arguments in favor of national identity being "real": (as in, likely to arise in any culture, perhaps in any species that's able - in a Chomsky recursion sort of way)
- You have a greater interest in reaching consensus with people in the same democracy as you, because their votes determine the laws you follow and vice versa.
- People who live in the same country as you fund the same programs and projects, and therefore share with you some sense of ownership over space programs, universal healthcare, or whatever else your government is spending money on.
- People who live in the same (democratic) country are co-responsible with you for whatever good or evil your government does. (See: points one and two.) It's not a direct, and the responsibility is spread thin, but however little power Americans have over US actions, foreign nationals have even less!
- Game theory explains a lot of this. National identity isn't an arbitrary fiction, nor an arbitrary reality. You can think it's good or bad, but it's here for reasons stouter than "someone came up with it."
- You have a greater interest in reaching consensus with people in the same democracy as you, because their votes determine the laws you follow and vice versa.
- People who live in the same country as you fund the same programs and projects, and therefore share with you some sense of ownership over space programs, universal healthcare, or whatever else your government is spending money on.
- People who live in the same (democratic) country are co-responsible with you for whatever good or evil your government does. (See: points one and two.) It's not a direct, and the responsibility is spread thin, but however little power Americans have over US actions, foreign nationals have even less!
- Game theory explains a lot of this. National identity isn't an arbitrary fiction, nor an arbitrary reality. You can think it's good or bad, but it's here for reasons stouter than "someone came up with it."