The Exploding Gopher

People don't actually listen to Ann Coulter, right? The idea that anybody who disagrees with the government is guilty of treason is so outside of my comprehension of democracy that I literally don't understand how somebody could think that. I thought people only said that to stir up controversy and sell books. Saturday night, I found out I was totally wrong.

I had been having dinner with a group of friends when this scary Republican drove up in his American truck (complete with pro-Bush bumper stickers) and parked in at least three parking spaces. The man was clearly nuts: he saw a car that had a "support our troops" ribbon on the back and started hootin' and hollerin' in support of this car. He was walking around the shopping center talking loudly on his cell phone when I overheard the following phrase slip out of his ignorant mouth: "Our biggest enemy in Iraq is the Democrats." Awkward syntax aside, I was still beyond shocked to hear such a phrase. We'll first examine the reasoning behind such a terrible phrase, then try to find some sense in a reasonable position.

These people say the same thing about Vietnam--that we lost the war because of the protests and dissent back home. They believe that national unity is necessary in times of crisis and that disparaging the troops' mission is tantamount to disrespecting the soldiers who are in harm's way. They say that in times of trouble, we have to support the government. My country, right or wrong.

I'm not of the camp that believes that national unity is necessary in times of crisis. The phrase, "my country, right or wrong" has been accurately compared to the phrase "my mother, drunk or sober" in terms of logic. If everybody agrees that something is right, people have stopped thinking for themselves. It's that simple. I guess absolute unity and agreement is fine in a country where the government makes all of the decisions without recourse. But remember, we don't live in such a country. Our leaders are directly responsible to us (that is, if you vote). We have the ability and the power to shape the policy of our government.

With that enormous power comes an even greater responsibility. Because we, as a people, get to have a say in what goes down in all levels of government, we have the responsibility to make educated choices and vote for what we think is right. If we disagree with the decisions of the government, we have a right responsibility to change that.

I'm not going to go into a justification of my views on the Iraq war. I'm sure those can be found elsewhere on the Gopher. For these purposes, it doesn't matter. If I am against the Iraq war, I have the right to say so and try to influence policy in whatever limited ways I can so that my government does the right thing.

I've often heard that the soldiers fight for my right to say what I want, so therefore I cannot say that their mission is wrong. This circular rhetoric defeats itself; if those soldiers truly are fighting for my right to be free (which, in the case of Iraq, I doubt), then the exercise of that freedom is my choice. They're not fighting for the freedom of Republicans to shut down Democrats.

Even so, if I disagree with the reasons to go to war, my action (in dissenting) absolutely supports the troops. I do not want American soldiers (men and women my age) to die in Iraq. If I can influence policy to make sure that our troops aren't harmed unnecessarily, I must do so. I most certainly don't want them to die for an unjust cause. To say that only those who support the mission support the troops limits discussion of the issue and therefore limits the democratic process.

Dissent is the ultimate form of patriotism. I may question my government's decisions without fear of punishment. Our internal enemies are not those who dissent; our enemies are those who ensure our destruction by suppressing democracy at home while promoting it abroad.