Dissension Within.

Historian Howard Zinn wrote "to criticize the government is the highest act of patriotism." Unfortunately with the moral outrage Christian conservatives spew when ranting about "do-gooder liberals" and "whistle-blowers," it seems as though free speech is now something to be hated or eliminated entirely from our society. On his first day in office George W. Bush said that if the United States were a dictatorship, "it would be a heck of a lot easier, just as long as I'm the dictator." Come to think of it, getting rid of the dissidents would make things so much easier for politicians.

If true patriots have anything to say about it, that's not going to happen. Dissension is something our nation's forefathers practiced and preached. Indeed, the right to dissent was proudly built into our government.

And just a reminder to those religious fundamentalists who view dissension as ungodly or unpatriotic: Jesus was a dissident.