"Is dissent still Patriotic?"

Great David Harsanyi piece...

I'm guessing dissent won't be so fondly looked upon by its once-upon-a-time religious adherents for at least the next four years.

That said, as Patriots on the Right, we have a responsibility to be consistent. I once created a bumper sticker (which I never actually put on my car) which said...

"DISSENT IS NOT LEADERSHIP."

I still believe that. We should vigorously dissent with the President where we disagree, all the while remembering that at the end of the day, the President has to make the call, and once the call is made, we need to let it go.

And while I may argue over this or that piece of policy, one thing you will never see me do is turn to a friend in Europe, or some local I might meet while traveling and say "Our President is an idiot, you Europeans are so much cooler than we are."

And yes, I know it's going to be hard to do that in some cases. It's going to feel like not fighting means tacit approval of the President's actions. Certainly the Democrats are going to paint it that way, and there are going to be many times when the urge to turn to the guy next to you and say "my god, what an idiot this President is" becomes almost overwhelming. But we need to resist that urge. And we need to remember that it would be childish and immature to shape our behaviour based on the way this or that person on the Left might use what we do or say to their small-minded short-term advantage.

Let them continue to be the children in this relationship if they need to be. These times call for adults. And I'll do whatever I have to do to resist the childish urge to act out that is a part of our nature as human beings. Because that's what Patriots do.