Posted on 05/30/2004 10:20:01 AM PDT by Maria S
For the life of me I cannot remember when it happened.
I cannot recall when the United States of America ceased being a land of dissenters; of arguers, of contrary thinking; of people blessed with the right, in the words of the very First Amendment to their Constitution, "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
When did protest become unpatriotic? When did the Founding Fathers' vision of a land that honored and embraced contentiousness disappear?
It must have vanished without millions of Americans ever noticing. How else does one explain the view of so many Americans that to question our policy in Iraq is unpatriotic? How else does one justify the stated opinions that protesting government policy gives "aid and comfort" to our enemies?
Such opinions are stated regularly in letters to this newspaper, by senior government officials, by political supporters of President Bush and by many millions of others, who, for reasons that escape me, hold this notion that wartime somehow requires us to keep our political feelings to ourselves.
The great Republican U.S. senator from California, Arthur Vandenberg, once said, "Politics stops at the water's edge." He made that quip to discourage partisan sniping during wartime.
But that doesn't mean Americans should cease questioning government policy, or even challenging a wartime president as many Americans are doing today. Most Americans know their boundaries. Sitting in an anti-aircraft gun, joking with enemy gunners who had killed American pilots - as Jane Fonda did in 1972 during the Vietnam War - crosses that line.
That act still sticks in the craw of many Vietnam veterans, including mine. Protesting government policy through civil disobedience, which millions of Americans did during that time, remains an appropriate form of political expression.
But it seems today that such expressions of disagreement hit a nerve at every turn. To speak out against some aspects of the war against terror, in the minds of many, constitutes an unpatriotic act.
Protesters hate our country, many people contend.
Here's my favorite: Those protesters hate what this country stands for.
So, what does this country stand for?
It stands for liberty. It stands for freedom, but certainly within the bounds of good taste and community standards. The country stands for people's right to speak their minds freely.
At least it used to stand for all that.
Something must have happened to change many Americans' minds about freedom of political expression.
Maybe it was the goons who introduced the United States to their monstrous brand of terrorism on Sept. 11, 2001. They hit us on our own turf, not in some nightclub or military barracks far away. That could bring about a fundamental change in many Americans' outlook about freedom.
Are we now free to express ourselves only if we support our president and his policies?
The Founders didn't put any provisions into the Constitution that suspended our rights to protest when the shooting starts and Americans start dying in combat. By omitting those restrictions, the Founders said quite the opposite. They said protest is a fundamental American right, which I would hasten to add is a totally foreign concept to our enemies.
Another great Republican, President Theodore Roosevelt, said this: "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. ...(I)t is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else."
Old Roughrider knew a few things about combat, which he fought in the political arena and on the battlefield. The Founders had it correct when they set aside our rights to seek "redress of grievances." If a policy is strong, it will stand up to any protest. If it is weak, it will change according to the people's will.
Our current crop of leaders, though, needs to stop the overheated responses to those who question them and their policies. Don't they give aid and comfort to those who seek to undermine our very way of life? Last time I checked, that way of life included a healthy dose of dissent.
Unless, of course, that all changed when I wasn't paying attention.
John Kanelis is editorial page editor for the Amarillo Globe-News. He can be contacted at the Globe News, P.O. Box 2091, Amarillo, TX 79166, or via e-mail at john.kanelis@amarillo.com. His column appears each Sunday.
....I'm John Kerry and I approve of this message. *Pardon me while I go wash my eyes out with bleach.*
MORON ALERT!!!! moreover dissent SHOULD have stopped when we went to war...what a loon
When it morphed from dissent into support of our enemies.
Gee. During WWII, we were pretty rough on "dissenters" not the least of which was Charles A. Lindberg. Lindberg didn't do any prison time but had to resign his commision. He rehabilitated himself in the PTO, teaching pilots how to extend the range of P38s and he actually scoring some kills.
Other "dissenters" did do jail times, sometimes without benefit of a trial. Worst of the lot was "The Chief," Dudley Pelley, head of the fascist Silver Shirt movement.
Dear Mr. Kanelis,
Your article today was interesting. I believe you "hit the nail on the head" with the following statement:
Maybe it was the goons who introduced the United States to their monstrous brand of terrorism on Sept. 11, 2001. They hit us on our own turf, not in some nightclub or military barracks far away. That could bring about a fundamental change in many Americans' outlook about freedom."
It is my opinion that most average Americans realized at that moment on September 11, 2001 that our country is at war. Most Americans realize that "they" want all of us either dead or living in their 15th-century style of government.
I believe most Americans recognize the threat to the continued existence of the United States of America posed by the 9/ll terrorists, Al Qaeda, and their associates. Without our country's existence, the "right of assembly," "freedom of speech," the right "to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," and all of the other freedoms guaranteed by the US Constitution would merely be words on a piece of paper.
I just wonder why it is that most journalists and many politicians don't seem to get it!
Signed___
[I wonder if I will receive a response from the author?]
These idiots are getting to "question" (read: rant about) our policy in Iraq. They just don't like that their points are being countered and their views are not winning the debate.
That must have happened when Tokyo Rose and Axis Sally were sentenced to long prison terms. After all they were just expressing dissent and patriotic contentiousness.
Amarillo is about 1.5 hours north of where I live. The paper is owned by a very rich fella who has more money than brains; he is a well-known lefty and uses the paper as his personal rant board (via surrogates therein).
Democrats who criticize the war with the intent of harming George Bush instead helping the Country are not patriotic.
You're not ready to write an editorial until you've lost count...
Excellent! I'm saving that one cause it just says it.
I told him.
Protests become unpatriotic the moment they aid and abet our enemies.
You are spot on.
(and pithy!)
:)
What would you call all the television talking heads? Or Algore? Or the NYTimes and Washington Post? Or the NAACP? Or Hollywood? The list of active dissenters is endless.
Protesters hate our country, many people contend.
Here's my favorite: Those protesters hate what this country stands for.
So, what does this country stand for?
It stands for liberty. It stands for freedom, but certainly within the bounds of good taste and community standards. The country stands for people's right to speak their minds freely.
At least it used to stand for all that.
Something must have happened to change many Americans' minds about freedom of political expression.
WHEN YOUR COUNTRY IS INFILTRATED WITH ILEAGLE ALIENS ,COMMUNIST SYMPOTHEISERS, SOCIALISTS ,AND THOSE WHO CHOOSE TO BE HYPHENATED AMERICANS.
WHEN THE MEDIA IN THIS COUNTRY IS EITHER BLIND OR STUPID TO THE FACT THEY ARE HELPING OUR ENEMYS EVERYTIME THEY DISPLAY THEIR DISCONTENT FOR ISSUES CRITICLE TO OUR WAY OF LIFE OR JUST SPIN HALF BAKED FACTS TO FILL THEIR PUPPET MASTERS AGENDA .
WHEN SCHOOLS BY THE DIRECTION OF OUR OWN GOVERNMENT AND THE ACLU A SUPPOSED DEFENDER OF FREEDOM AND EQUAL RIGHTS IN OUR COUNTRY TELL THE MASSES ITS OK TO WORSHIP ANY GOD OR IDOL EXCEPT A CHRISTIAN ONE.
WHEN WE HAVE EX PRESIDENTS WHO FOUGHT HARD TO BRING A LIBERAL/SOCIALIST WAY TO AMERICANS AND THE MASSES STOOD BY AND LET IT HAPPEN BECAUSE FREEDOM WAS TAKEN FOR GRANTED INSTEAD OF BEING CLOSELY GUARDED AND THE MEDIA HID IT FROM SIGHT LIKE A WOUND FESTERING UNDER THE SURFACE OF OUR SKIN.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN
WE MUST BRING THIS NATION BACK TO GOD BACK TO A TIME WHEN DISENTION WAS SOMETHING TO BE FOUGHT FOR PROUDLY AND WITH DIGNITY.
STANDING UP AND WISHING YOUR PRESIDENT HAD A HIT ON HIM IS NOT DISENTION ITS TREASON PELOSI,KENNEDY,GORE,SOROS,DEAN,KERRY,DASCHLE ARE ALL GUILTY OF THIS CRIME AT A TIME OF WAR WHEN OUR VERY EXISTANCE IS AT STAKE MOVEON.ORG,AND A.N.S.W.E.R. ARE NOT VOICES OF DISENTION THEY ARE VOICES OF COMMUNISM SOMETHING AMERICANS HAVE FOUGHT FOR GENERATIONS BOTH HERE AND ABROAD
LIBERALS IN THIS COUNTRY ARE COMMUNISTS ITS TIME TO WAKE UP TO THAT FACT AND START CALLING THEM WHAT THEY ARE INSTEAD OF PEDDLING AROUND IT.
POLITICLE CORRECTNESS IS GOING TO KILL US AND OUR WAY OF LIFE ITS LIKE A DEMADAPHITE [FOOT FUNGUS] THE LONGER ITS THERE THE MORE DAMAGE IT DOES AND THE LONGER IT TAKES TO GET RID OF. DISENTION IS GOOD FOR MANY REASONS BUT WHEN ITS TO START AN AGENDA TO CHANGE THE BASIC PRINCIPLES AND FOUNDATIONS OF OUR WAY OF LIFE AS AMERICANS ITS TREASONONOUS ANT THE LEAST.
PETA,ELF,ACLU,NAACP,NAAWP AND OTHER SUCH ORGANIZATIONS COULD DO GREAT GOOD FOR THIS COUNTRY IF THEY WOULD FOLLOW THE CONSTITUTION THE WAY IT WAS WRITTEN INSTEAD OF TREATING IT AS THEIR SOUNDING BOARD FOR THE SPECIAL INTEREST THAT INFLUANCES OUR GOVERNMENT.BURNING CAR DEALERSHIPS AND HOUSING DEVELOPMENTS IS NOT DESENTION ITS TREASON.HATE CRIMES LEGISLATION IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE FREEDOMS OF ALL AMERICANS OF ANY COLOR AND RACIAL PROFILING WILL KEEP STREETS SAFER FOR EVERYONE WHO IS A LAW ABIDING CITIZEN OF THEIS GREAT COUNTRY OF OURS
OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS SHOULD TELL SPECIAL INTERESTS TO PUSH OFF EVERYTIME THEY TRY AND INFLUENCE OR BUY A VOTE IS THIS TO SAY EVERYONE IN GOVERNMENT IS CORRUPT ? NO BUT THE SPECIAL INTERESTS IN MY OPINION SHOULD BE WORKING FOR CHANGE IN THEIR OWN ORGANIZATIONS INSTEAD OF COHERSING GOVERNMENT TO FORCE ILL FATED LAWS AND RESTRICTIONS ON THE MASSES !
Rant over flame away !
bump
Let's ask another question - When does 'party' become 'faction'?
Good stuff.
"Rant over flame away!"
No flames, just applause. You may be preaching to the choir but the choir loves it.
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