This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2006, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism," he indicated our duty as patriotic Americans is not to keep obediently silent when the policies of our elected officials damage our country and its standing in the world. Rather, our duty is to defend those shared principles that define us as Americans against those who would violate them for inhumane, destructive ends.

Patriotic Americans believe that those in power must earn their authority over other human beings. That authority is not earned simply by gaining office; it is earned by upholding our nation's values.

The demonstrations on Aug. 30 are directed at an administration whose policies have been disastrous and sometimes even illegal, and at a Congress that has unquestioningly supported these policies.

The Bush administration and Congress, with the help of a complacent and complicit news media, were directly responsible for misleading the American public into an unnecessary, tragic war that has killed more than 2,600 and maimed more than 19,000 courageous men and women in our armed forces and led to the deaths of more than 100,000 Iraqi civilians.

The administration has harmed the American people and our nation and tarnished the principles we cherish in many other ways. It has repaid the sacrifices of our soldiers by proposing to slash Department of Veterans Affairs funding by $11.8 billion by 2011, forcing 600,000 veterans out of the VA's health-care system. It has authorized torture, kidnapping and incarcerating people without charge, and it has engaged in the unconstitutional wiretapping of law-abiding Americans.

Never before has our national leadership so systematically undermined the greatness of our nation.

Outrages of this magnitude demand dissent driven by a true patriotism - our love and concern for our country. Each one of us has the inescapable responsibility to stand up and oppose those who are accountable. As President Theodore Roosevelt said, "To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."

Those who believe that criticism of a federal administration's war policy is reprehensible or aids the enemy might consider the American Legion's outrageous opposition to the war to stop ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. While American troops were in combat, the American Legion passed Resolution 44 condemning U.S. participation in the Kosovo War.

In a letter to President Clinton, a former Legion commander urged "the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops participating in 'Operation Allied Force.'" It said the United States Armed Forces "should never be committed to wartime operations" unless certain conditions are met, including "a clear statement by the President of why it is in our vital national interests to be engaged in hostilities," and "guidelines . . . for the mission, including a clear exit strategy."

Of course, neither of these conditions has been met with respect to the tragic, misbegotten war in Iraq.

We cannot, out of concern for "politeness" or "appropriateness," abdicate our responsibility to speak out when we believe our nation and our nation's values have been severely undermined. If we keep silent, we submit to a dangerous national culture of obedience, which denigrates dissenters as treasonous and unpatriotic.

This slavish deference to authority corrupts the soul, transforms our moral beliefs and freedom of conscience into objects for manipulation by those in power, and makes us weak, thoughtless, and fearful. As President Eisenhower, who commanded Allied forces in Europe during World War II, advised, "May we never confuse honest dissent for disloyal subversion."

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Rocky Anderson is mayor of Salt Lake City.