From an American viewpoint, it is crucial not to confuse the National Front's nationalism with American patriotism. Nationalism has deep roots in European politics, culture, and history. It elevates the nation above the individual, and everything that is associated with the nation as an entity - language, religion, culture, heritage, history, destiny - is bundled into a collective "cause." The individual, the building block of the American constitutional republic, is reduced to an instrument for the furtherance of the nationalist cause.