Saturday SWJ Quote of the Day
07.12.2008 at 11:57pm
We’ve all heard humorless America-haters promote themselves by announcing, As Thomas Jefferson said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.”
The first problem with that self-righteous bull is that Jefferson never said it. On the contrary, he warned of the dangers of political dissension carried to extremes.
The earliest traceable provenance of the slogan goes back to an obscure 1960s lefty who just made it up.
Dissent can be patriotic – it’s essential to have an ongoing public debate about the major issues confronting us. But that dissent must be based on facts, not sloppy emotions.
Instead, we get dissent worn as a fashion statement. And fanatic dissent (as Jefferson noted) is the enemy of a democratic system.
