IS DISSENT TREASON?

STAY THE COURSE?



BY CHRISTOPHER B. DALY


At this time of agonizing reappraisal over U.S. involvement in Iraq, here is a thought experiment that might help clarify some of the issues. This exercise is offered to both Democrats and Republicans as a way to think more clearly about the issues.
First, we must ask ourselves: Can a president – any president – ever make a mistake? To listen to some members of the Bush administration and to some of their Republican supporters in Congress and among the right-wing media, their answer might be a qualified “no.” That is, the answer is no for Republican presidents, who are apparently infallible. Democratic presidents, of course, are not only able to make mistakes, they are prone to doing so.
But any American who is not blinded by partisanship must acknowledge that in fact presidents can and do make mistakes. We know from history that presidents have made colossal errors in judgment, costing our nation dearly in terms of blood, treasure and the world’s opinion.
There is no language in the Constitution that grants the president the political equivalent of papal infallibility, and there is no provision that says presidents of one party are infallible while presidents of other parties are not.
Next, we must ask: If a president makes a mistake, does our Constitution offer any remedy? Is there anything that Congress, the judiciary, or the people as a whole can do to reverse a mistake, or at least to cut our losses?
In other words, if a president makes a mistake, must we always “stay the course”?
Are all presidential mistakes beyond review? Are they never subject to revision, correction, or reversal?
If we do not stay the course, are we always being disloyal? In other words, is dissent treason?