What you're describing as patriotism sounds like faith. Your flag is analogous to a cross or a star. Your national anthem sounds like prayers. Countries come across as religions.

I digress. It seems that democracy has been hacked many times over history (thanks OPs for all the links). Honestly, what would be a feasible alternative?

PS: Please do not bring up transparency; more of it won't solve it, we're being socially engineered at large scale.