Response to "Dissent is Unpatriotic"

[crispini]

Statement: "Well, in a time of war, we should just all pull together. I don't think it's patriotic to protest the government in a time like this."

Response: "It seems to me like that attitude is, you're looking like the government as Big Daddy. Like "father knows best." And we're all these kids that have to be told what to do. That we should just trust the government and rely on it to do the right thing and obey. And that we should be quiet because there is extra danger now. But I don't think that's correct. This is MY government. I'm a citizen and a taxpayer, and I own this government. Every inch of it belongs to ME. I have the right to poke my nose into any part of this government and express my opinion, and the government will be the better for it. Especially in times of crisis.

I haven't tried it out on anyone yet... try it, and report back, and KICK if you like it! :)

[indef]

1. my response

"I don't have any trouble saying the Pledge of Allegiance in the morning."

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. I would amend it

Being that it's your government, it's your DUTY to dissent if you feel it's going in an inappropriate direction. When your child behaves inappropriately, do you consider yourself a bad parent if you take action to correct that behavior?

[BeFree]

17. Who's in charge?

Two ways to look at our government...

One, we are the children and the government is the parent with ALL the rights to tell us what to do and how to act.

Two, the government is the child and we tell the government how to act.

According to the constitution, number two, "We the Parents", seems the only way the realtionship can work. Afterall, gummint office holders are our servants, yes?

We are the ones who put office holders in office (exception: year 2000) and they must listen to our demands. Anything else is fascism, or monarchy.

[meti57b]

3. war based on false pretense, sooner or later people would realize that....

and come out strongly against the war. Any administration stupid enough to lie on such a massive scale has no business being in office.

[elehhhhna]

4. A Patriot protects his country from his govenment. Forciferously.

[msturgis524]

5. Mark Twain quote

Patriotism is supporting your country all of the time, and your government when it deserves it.

[havocmom]

6. I favor a quote from an American President & old school Republican

"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. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country."

Theodore Roosevelt


I believe the gentleman had a vision about saving wild places in our nation also. Guess they don't allow his kind of thinking in the GOP today.

edited to fix an omission

[demwing]

14. If T. Roosevelt were alive today, he'd be on a Dem ticket.

War hero, environmentalist, monopoly buster, populist. What the fuck happened to the Republican party?

On Edit - that's a rhetorical question. The radical, fundamentalist Christian right infiltrated, racists infiltrated, and the progressives all lost their jobs, thats what happened.

[Mizmoon]

7. "Dissent is the highest form of patriotism." - President Thomas Jefferson

I listen to Tom, not to neocons.

[ScreamingMeemie]

8. Ain't it funny how Poppa Bush held Teddy Roosevelt in such high esteem?

And yet the Republican Party tromps on his ideals on a daily basis? Well, at the very least it's ironic.

[monchie]

9. One of my favorite statements on this topic...

...is from Al Franken's book, "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them":

"(Right-wingers) don't get it. We love America just as much as they do. But in a different way. You see, they love America the way a four-year-old loves her mommy. Liberals love America like grown-ups. To a four-year-old, everything Mommy does is wonderful and anyone who criticizes Mommy is bad. Grown-up love means actually understanding what you love, taking the good with the bad, and helping your loved one grow. Love takes attention and work and is the best thing in the world."

[July]

10. So we should only dissent when it doesn't matter?

When things are peachy and we differ on minor things?

And if we think something's wrong when big choices that affect millions of people's lives are being made we should just shut up about it?

Ask someone who starts on this road if that's how they operate within their own family when there are serious issues on the table. Do they shut up to preserve family harmony or express their concerns?

[in_cog_ni_to]

11. I like it!

I also like... Dissent is Unpatriotic = "Hatriotism."

AND...



"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else."

"Roosevelt in the Kansas City Star", 149
May 7, 1918

[Bad Thoughts]

12. Francis Scott Key

He protested the war throughout, even though he also fought in it. He also wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

[luaneryder]

13. If it were not for dissent and protest

we would be ruled by an English court, I would not be allowed to vote since I'm female, troops would still be in Vietnam....Jeebus, where do these people think we would all be without protest and dissent?:shrug:

[riverwalker]

15. Edward Abbey quote

"A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government"

[HysteryDiagnosis]

16. Excellent quote.... excellent. It is a duty to dissent against

leadership that is leading the wrong way, or has sold the people out to corporate interests. Those who gleefully go along no matter what the band is playing are complicit in the discord that is produced.

[BeFree]

20. Ya gotta love ol' Ed

A twist:

A patriot must always be in command of his servants lest they steal from us and sleep with our enemies.

[DinahMoeHum]

18. MarkTwain: "Loyalty to the country always; loyalty to the government

...when it deserves it"


:kick:

[jdonaldball]

19. In North Korea, dissent is a capital crime