Thoughts on Schlesinger

Arthur Schlesinger was everything I had hoped he would be and more. He's got the look of the aged, eminent historian down pat, complete with bow tie and striped shirt.

But the important stuff was what he had to say. His two strongest points dealt with the role of war-time dissent in American history.

First, he argued that there must be open and frank debate before going to war. There is no more momentous decision a nation can make than to initiate military conflict, and to do so without extensive public discussion is fundamentally undemocratic.

Second, Schlesinger showed that opposition to the president and the government as whole has been a hallmark of American discourse during wars, from the Revolution onwards. For the Bush administration to conflate unyielding support of the nation when it's at war is to ignore centuries of patriotic Americans who have spoke out in opposition to a long list of conflicts.

Patriotism, in Schlesinger's words, is living up to a nation's ideals. To cast away freedom of dissent is undemocratic, unpatriotic, and un-American.