Critics of Americans who disagree with the Bush administration's war policy apparently don't understand the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
For example, one angry attack on anti-war demonstrators suggested they were "the parasites of democracy." That's just wrong.
Fact is, public protest and spirited disagreement with government policy are among the characteristics that distinguish the United States from other nations. We not only have the right, but the duty, to criticize government when we believe government is on the wrong path. Thomas Jefferson would have it no other way. After all, Jefferson and the other founders were inspired to create a new form of government that had (has) as one of its bedrock principles distrust of government, especially a powerful central government.
That's not to say, of course, that government is always wrong. The unprecedented success of the United States confirms that representative government has been right most of the time. But that remarkable history does not absolve citizens from gathering to protest policy they believe is a mistake.
And sometimes the people carrying signs in the street prove to be right. The Vietnam war is the best example. In the years since the war ended, historians, journalists and former government officials who were part of the war effort have confirmed that even President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara knew that escalation of the war was a tragic mistake.
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The protesters in the streets and members of Congress who opposed the war were right.
But who was right or wrong is not the crucial factor. The right of peaceful assembly and demonstration is sacrosanct. The obligation to challenge government policies and actions is basic to American democracy. Whether protest takes the form of a letter to the editor, an editorial or a march in front of a federal building, the tendency of Americans to question and challenge their government is a defining instinct of our successful democracy.
It is true that smug and holier-than-thou attitudes among some anti-war demonstrators are infuriating. But their unpleasant phony superiority is not the issue. Their right to be smug and self-righteous must be protected, especially when the stand they take is unpopular.
Finally, history shows that presidents make mistakes. The belief that whatever a president does in a run-up to war deserves unquestioning support can be a recipe for tragedy. Americans must raise questions when so much is at stake.
So it really is un-American to rant that anti-war protesters are less patriotic than those who blindly support a president's war policy. The rights of assembly and protest are among the most important tenets of the nation's founding documents. They should be celebrated.
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