Dissent is as American as apple pie: "American citizens are torn by an ill-advised war and occupation led by leaders who, in seeking to stifle the sort of healthy debate democracy requires, do not seem to understand, indeed, who seem to shun, our nation's history.".

• Author: Young, Ralph F.
• Position: American Thought - Column

THERE ARE MANY PEOPLE in this country--and this Administration--who claim that anyone opposed to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as well as America's continued presence there, are unpatriotic (at best) and treasonous (at worst). Indeed, the Patriot Act stipulates penalties for criticism of the government.

Patriotism--at least according to current popular belief--means supporting the decisions of our political leaden. Dissent is considered un-American. Protestors at presidential appearances routinely have been herded into "free speech zones" where their signs and slogans are seen only by the encircling cordon of police. (The Constitution makes no mention of free speech being confined to a zone.) The next thing you know, cars will be sporting the "America: Love It or Leave It!" bumper slickers that were all the rage some 30 years ago.

This attitude, however, only calls attention to one of the nation's most conspicuous failings--pervasive historical illiteracy. We need to recognize that dissent is the American way; that protest is patriotic. It is, in fact, one of the fundamental traits that defines this country. Cold War scholar Vladislav Zubok has pointed out that it was only when the Soviet Union saw American protestors take to the streets demonstrating against the Vietnam War that they finally overcame their distrust of the U.S. and began to believe in democracy.

The English colonies in North America were founded on dissent, and almost immediately after religious secessionists arrived in Massachusetts Bay, voices of protest rose up against the Puritan authorities. Anne Hutchinson and Roger Williams were banished for their views during the first decade of settlement. Remember, too, that patriots fought the American Revolution to establish independence from a government that was not responsive to the needs of its subjects--thus, resulting in the Declaration of Independence and, ultimately, the Constitution. None of this could have been accomplished without a great deal of debate, protest, resistance, and argument. Somehow, though, America did evolve into a country that respected all titans of freedom, especially freedom of speech. Or did it?

Lynch mobs

Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison once was rescued from being lynched by a pro-slavery mob when the mayor of Boston had him thrown into jail. While incarcerated, Garrison wrote on the wall: "Wm. Lloyd Garrison was put into this cell Wednesday afternoon, October 21, 1835, to save him from the...