right or wrong?

Where does the idea to follow - a leader or support a country - right or wrong come from and what are its implications?

some sources:

"AUTHOR:
Carl Schurz (1829–1906)
QUOTATION:
The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right." (from Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989. on http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html)



The Columbia World of Quotations. 1996.


NUMBER:
12204
QUOTATION:
“My country, right or wrong” is a thing that no patriot would think of saying except in a desperate case. It is like saying “My mother, drunk or sober.”
ATTRIBUTION:
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936), British author. The Defendant, “Defence of Patriotism,” (1901). See Decatur.
BIOGRAPHY:
Columbia Encyclopedia.
WORKS:
Chesterton Collection.
(on: http://www.bartleby.com/66/4/12204.html)

Chesterton quote begs the question - what is "a desparate case"? - SO - to read... it...
In any case - Chesterton is an interesting case as he was roundly accused of being an anti-semite, "suggested the formation of a Jewish homeland as a solution, and was later invited to Palestine by Jewish Zionists who saw him as an ally in their goal to achieve just that", and "with the rise of Nazi Germany, denounced the persecution of the Jews.' 'I am quite ready to believe now,' he said, 'that Belloc and I will die defending the last Jew in Europe'.".

Ah... NATIONALISM.... - why and why not?!