They claim that we who protest the actions of our government "hate America." What a thin, attenuated understanding of love one must need to have in order to mistake protest for hatred. 

I protest because I love America -- or maybe better to say I love the dream of what America could yet be. I love the dream of liberty and justice for all. We've never wholly lived up to it, but we keep trying. 

I love the dream of an America that truly gives "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." (Those words are from George Washington, in his 1790 letter to the Jewish community of Newport.)

I love the dream of an America that values diversity and pluralism, knowing that we are stronger when we learn from each other. An America that includes all of us, of every race and creed and origin. 

I love the dream of an America that uplifts what's fair and right. I dream of an America that cares for the vulnerable, leaves no one homeless or hungry, and uplifts the inherent human dignity of all people.

Does this describe the nation in which I live, to date? Nope. We're nowhere near those ideals. But the fact that I recognize that doesn't mean I hate my country. It means I want my country to be better.

Just as I want myself to do better, and be better, and live up to my own ideals better! Not because I hate who I am, God forbid; but because I am always striving to be the best version of who I can be.

I show love for my country precisely when I challenge my country to live up to its own ideals. When I say "we can do better than this; we can be better than this." We aren't there yet, but we will keep trying.