Sunday, November 27, 2005
Patriotism and Dissent: Back to Basics
The subject of patriotism and dissent is much discussed and little understood. I think it useful to review a couple of precepts:
1. Dissenting in good faith from government policy, even a foreign war, is not unpatriotic. Further, if the dissenting view is strongly felt and well thought out, dissent is a citizen's duty.
2. Intentionally undermining your country's war effort to gain partisan political advantage is unpatriotic. Further even absent express intent, recklessly disregarding whether the war effort will be undermined is likewise unpatriotic.
Before dissenting, a patriot should take into account potential adverse effects of the dissent on the war effort and make a call whether dissent is worth the cost. As Americans we all have the legal right to dissent. And we all have the moral responsibility to weigh our actions.
We can't see inside war critics' heads, but we can form our own opinions of the motivations of many of them. In my opinion, some are in good faith and some are not. Some are so blinded by hate as to be incapable of weighing their actions. Witness Cindy Sheehan.
By no means should we conclude that dissent is necessarily unpatriotic. But neither should we be deceived by cynical manipulators ostentatiously displaying the First Amendment when their intent is to advance partisan interests, the interests of the country be damned. They are out there, and they are loud. We have no legal recourse against them, and we should not. But we are free to despise them.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
1. Dissenting in good faith from government policy, even a foreign war, is not unpatriotic. Further, if the dissenting view is strongly felt and well thought out, dissent is a citizen's duty.
2. Intentionally undermining your country's war effort to gain partisan political advantage is unpatriotic. Further even absent express intent, recklessly disregarding whether the war effort will be undermined is likewise unpatriotic.
Before dissenting, a patriot should take into account potential adverse effects of the dissent on the war effort and make a call whether dissent is worth the cost. As Americans we all have the legal right to dissent. And we all have the moral responsibility to weigh our actions.
We can't see inside war critics' heads, but we can form our own opinions of the motivations of many of them. In my opinion, some are in good faith and some are not. Some are so blinded by hate as to be incapable of weighing their actions. Witness Cindy Sheehan.
By no means should we conclude that dissent is necessarily unpatriotic. But neither should we be deceived by cynical manipulators ostentatiously displaying the First Amendment when their intent is to advance partisan interests, the interests of the country be damned. They are out there, and they are loud. We have no legal recourse against them, and we should not. But we are free to despise them.
To reply, email texthepontificator at yahoo dot com.
// posted by Tex the Pontificator @ 11/27/2005 08:24:00 PM 
