If a country needs to overly emphasise an ideal, that’s usually because that ideal doesn’t apply in that country (“Land of the free”, “Democratic people’s republic of …”).
If a person needs to subscribe to patriotism, it’s usually because they have never accomplished anything better in their life than being born in a specific place.
That sentence would be better.
That’s totally ok, but it’s not really patriotism, is it? You are proud of an accomplishment. Of a real thing that you did/were part of, that actually changed something.
That’s pretty disconnected from patriotism, which means “I am proud of my country because it’s my country”. Patriotism is hollow. It’s being proud of something by default without anything worth being proud of.
In my country it’s quite common that normal people run for lower offices, like district or city level. I personally know at least 10 people who hold some lower level offices.
Thank you; I think I understand how you are using patriotism better. (Also jealous that somewhere has destigmatized public office.)