I’m a U.S. citizen. I’m also a U.S. military veteran. And if the United States were to invade a NATO ally unprovoked, I would fight for the invaded country, if they would have me.

That statement makes some people uncomfortable.

I think about Germany in the early 1930s. I think about how many World War I veterans saw where things were headed, recognized the moral rot early, and stayed silent because speaking up meant being labeled a traitor to the fatherland. History didn’t judge them kindly for their loyalty to a flag over their loyalty to what was right.

Here’s the distinction that matters to me: I didn’t swear allegiance to land grabs, strongmen, or impulse. I swore to values. The rule of law. Alliances. Sovereignty. The idea that power has limits and that might does not make right.

Loving your country doesn’t mean endorsing everything it does. Sometimes it means refusing to go along when it does something profoundly wrong.

Patriotism isn’t obedience. It’s responsibility.

If defending those values puts me at odds with my own government in a hypothetical I hope never becomes real, I’m at peace with that. I’d rather be judged harshly by people today than correctly by historians tomorrow.

Countries are important. Values are more important. And when the two come into conflict, I know where I stand.