Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism. Not!
Dissent is the Highest Form of
Patriotism. Not!
We seem to live in a bumper sticker society. People don’t take time for serious reading anymore. If it doesn’t fit on a bumper sticker, it’s meaningless. At least that’s the impression I get from time to time.
While some bumper stickers can be entertaining, others are incomprehensible, and others are just dumb, such as the one I saw recently. It read, "Dissent is the Highest Form of Patriotism." You hardly know where to start with such an inanity.
Let’s begin with the idea that "dissent" is patriotic. My fourth edition, American Heritage College Dictionary defines a "patriot" as, "One who loves, supports, and defends one’s country." It defines "patriotism" as, "Love of and devotion to one’s country." Those are pretty straightforward definitions and it would be more than a little contortional to fit "dissent" into a definition of being patriotic.
Dissent is dissent, it’s not patriotic. That doesn’t necessarily make it wrong, but it has absolutely nothing to do with patriotism. And, in fact, in some cases dissent is clearly unpatriotic if it involves burning the American flag or otherwise expressing your hatred for America.
As for the phrase, "highest form of patriotism," one hardly knows whether to laugh or cry. Higher than Nathan Hale giving his life for his country? Higher than the sacrifices of our founders? Higher than men (and women) who have died defending our country in battle? Higher than those who put their lives on the line each day to make it possible for others to dissent?
Give me a break. Dissent is dissent. Patriotism is patriotism, whether it’s that certain feeling you get when they play the national anthem, or when you visit American shrines like Valley Forge, or when an honor guard carries the American flag in a parade. Patriotism is about love, and dissent is about anger.
Dissent may not be the highest form of patriotism, but it's our obligation to speak out when we see our nation headed in the wrong direction.
As a Republican, I'm still disappointed that not even one GOP Senator voted against Bush's Iraq war resolution. Yes, I'm sure a few had "reservations."
But they took the easy road of not confronting the President for fear of being called unpatriotic or disloyal. Many Democrats like Hillary Clinton did the same.
Dissent is an American tradition more important than symbols like the flag. Cherish it and embrace it. It's one of the things (when properly used) that makes this country great.
Reply to this
I will split hairs unabashedly here. Or rather, provide context for the definition as it relates to these United States of America.
I agree, dissent is not patriotic if your dissent is part of an orchestrated psychological operations campaign to undermine the defense of these United States of America, the security of the Constitution and the sovereign “People”…especially in the midst of an “nation-ending” war (which we ARE involved in whether we chose to face facts or not).
But there is something we can call patriotic dissent. That is when the sovereign powers of People, and the Constitution, are threatened or rather usurped by those who we have hired as caretakers to see to the operations of the republic beyond the state level in accordance with the enumerated powers DELEGATED (Yes…Delegated…check the Tenth Amendment) to them by the People as listed within the Constitution. It is at this point, that we have a right to (and according to Thomas Jefferson duty bound) to dissent to such an abomination.
Our country, our nation, our government is not some politician who promises you the moon and the heavens paid for with the fruit of your hard labors. They are not some bureaucratic policy wonk in the bowels of a monolithic federal building publishing a BOLO report labeling you a “right-wing” extremist for attending something as innocuous as a tea party or deciding not to vote for the first black President. They are not even the brave men and women who lay it on the line daily in some far flung location hunting down those who wish us gone. They all seem to THINK they ARE the government, but they are sadly mistaken. They only work FOR the Government.
Our country, our nation, our government is “the People.” The organizational framework for our Government is codified in the Founding Documents: most notably, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These documents clear and simple in black and white are not subject to “open interpretation” by the employees who work for the People. We, the People, are the final authority.
Therefore, protesting, dissenting, seeking a redress of violations of the contract by our employees IS indeed patriotic in its highest form by every fair definition of the word.
Sadly, we have lost touch with the definitions of “patriotism” and “dissent,” because we have lost touch with our own identity.
Respectfully submitted.
John Wilson
Reply to this