Speaking
up for what you believe, even if it's unpopular, is a great American
tradition. It's one of the most important elements of a democracy
and one of the things that makes us different from a fascist or
totalitarian state.
DISSENT
can manifest itself in many ways-and it doesn't have to be verbal.
Betsy Ross, in sewing the first American flag, was performing
an act of dissent.To Do Now
But
most dissenting opinions are in words-and they come from every
time period in our country's history, starting with the Founders-and
continue today. They come from a wide swath of Americans-- politicians,
religious leaders, Democrats and Republicans. |
Here
are some of our favorite quotes:
James
Baldwin, "Notes of a Native Son"
"I love America more than any other country in this world, and,
exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually."
Ambrose
Bierce:
"Disobedience, the silver lining to the cloud of servitude"
General
Smedley Butler, speech in 1933:
"There isn't a trick in the racketeering bag that the military
gang is blind
to. It has its "finger men" to point out enemies, its "muscle
men" to destroy enemies, its "brain men" to plan war
preparations, and a "Big Boss"
The
Constitution:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble,
and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
Henry
Steele Commanger:
"Men in authority will always think that criticism of their policies
is dangerous. They will always equate their policy with patriotism,
and find criticism subversive."
William
O. Douglas
As nightfall does not comes at once, neither does oppression. In both
instances, there is a twilight when everything remains seemingly unchanged.
And it is in such twilight that we all must be most aware of change
in the air however slight lest we become unwitting victims of the darkness."
Dwight
D. Eisenhower:
"A people that values its privileges above its principles soon
loses both."
Dwight
D. Eisenhower:
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired,
signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not
fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
Benjamin
Franklin:
"They
that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
Benjamin
Franklin:
"Justice
is as strictly due between neighbor nations as between neighbor citizens;
a highwayman is as much a robber when he plunders in a gang as when
single and a nation that makes an unjust war is only a great gang."
Benjamin
Franklin, 1773 (letter to Josiah Quincy):
"There never was a good war or a bad peace."
J.
William Fullbright :
"In a democracy, dissent is an act of faith."
Emma
Goldman, 1942
"We
shall soon be obliged to meet in cellars, or in darkened rooms with
closed doors, and speak in whispers lest our next door neighbors should
hear that freeborn citizens dare not speak in the open ."
Emma
Goldman, 1915
"In the face of this approaching disaster, it behooves men and
women not yet overcome by war madness to raise their voice of protest,
to call the attention of the people to the crime and outrage which are
about to be perpetrated on them."
Julia
Ward Howe, Mother's Day Proclamation 1870:
"The sword of murder is not the balance of justice. Blood does
not wipe out dishonor nor violence indicate possession."
Thomas
Jefferson
"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot
be limited without being lost."
Thomas
Jefferson
"What county can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not
warned from time to time that its people preserve the spirit of resistance."
Thomas
Jefferson
"Freedom of religion; freedom of the press; freedom of person under
the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially
selected; these principles form the bright constellation which has gone
before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolutions and reformation."
Thomas
Jefferson, 1798
"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass
over, their spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight,
restore their government to its true principles. It is true that in
the mean time we are suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring debt...If
the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have patience till
luck returns and then we shall have an opportunity of winning back the
principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at
stake. "
Hiram
Johnson, 1917:
"The first casualty when war comes is truth."
Martin
Luther King, 1963:
"The
means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live.
Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided
missiles and misguided men."
Martin
Luther King, 1963:
"Nothing
in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious
stupidity."
Martin
Luther King, 1964:
"We
will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words
and actions of the bad people, but the for the appalling silence of
the good people."
"We
must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools."
Abraham
Lincoln, 1864:
"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me
and cause me to tremble for the sake of my country. Corporations have
been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow,
and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign
by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated
in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed."
Abraham
Lincoln:
"....You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even
fool some of the people all the time; but you can't fool all of the
people all of the time."
Abraham
Lincoln:
"This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who
inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government,
they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their
revolutionary right to dismember or overthow it."
James
Madison
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have
become the instruments of tyranny at home."
Malcolm
X
"You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face
reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it."
Margaret
Mead
"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change
the world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has."
Edward
R. Morrow on "See it Now," March 7, 1954 (around
McCarthy investigations)
""We
must not confuse dissent with disloyalty. When the loyal opposition
dies, the soul of America dies with it."
"We
will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we remember that
we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write,
to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were, for the moment,
unpopular."
Tom
Paine:
War involves in its progress such a train of unforeseen and un supposed
circumstances that no human wisdom can calculate the end. It has but
one thing certain and that is to increase taxes.
Eleanor
Roosevelt, April 15th, 1943
"At all times, day by day, we have to continue fighting for freedom
of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom from want, for all these
things that must be gained in peace as well as in war."
Eleanor
Roosevelt
"For it isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it.
And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work on it."
Theodore
Roosevelt:
"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.
Margaret
Chase Smith:
"Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous
to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the
popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true
test of moral character."
"Leadership
is not manifested by coercion, even against the resented. Greatness
is not manifested by unlimited pragmatism, which places such a high
premium on the end justifying the means and any measures."
Those of
us who shout the loudest about Americanism in making character assassinations
are all to frequently those who, by our own words and acts, ignore some
of the basic principles of Americanism --
The right to criticize;
The right to hold unpopular beliefs;
The right to protest;
The right of independent thought.
The exercise of these rights should not cost one single American citizen
his reputation or his right to a livelihood nor should he be in danger
of losing his reputation or livelihood merely because he happens to
know some one who holds unpopular beliefs. Who of us doesn't? Otherwise
none of us could call our souls our own. Otherwise thought control would
have set in.
Robert
A. Taft:
"Too many people desire to suppress criticism simply because they
think it will give some comfort to the enemy... . If that comfort makes
the enemy feel better for a few moments, they are welcome to it ...
because the maintenance of the right to criticism in the long run will
do the country maintaining it a great deal more good than it will do
the enemy."
Mark
Twain:
"It were not best that we should all think alike; it is difference
of opinion that makes horse races."
Woodrow
Wilson:
"The things that the Flag stand for were created by the experiences
of a great people. Everything that it stands for was written by their
lives. The Flag is the embodiment, not of sentiment, but of history.
It represents the experiences made by men and women, experiences of
those who do and live under the Flag."