There is only one way to "support the troops" in this conflict, and Edwards has summed it up well in his call for a respectful Memorial Day agitation to extract U.S. forces from Bush's war of whim. "The American people voted last fall to stand by our troops, end the war, and bring our soldiers home. The Congress sent the president a bill that would fund the troops and bring them home," argues the most outspoken war critic among the leading contenders for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. "But President Bush has embarked on a stubborn path -- rejecting the will of the people and Congress. ... It has become clear that the only way to support our troops and end the war is by direct action -- by democracy."
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Adds Edwards, "It has been said that dissent is the highest form of patriotism. Mark Twain once wrote that the government must not decide who is a patriot and who isn't.' President Theodore Roosevelt went even further. He said that to say there should be no criticism of a president is not only unpatriotic and servile, but it is morally treasonable to the American public.' "
Edwards has hit on an important theme. It is often said that U.S. troops are fighting for democracy. If this is so, then those fights are only really won when American democracy is open and vibrant enough to allow for a realistic discussion of the nation's circumstance. By suggesting that this Memorial Day is the right time to challenge the Bush administration's false assertions and failed policies, Edwards is marking himself as precisely the sort of bold leader that America will need in the post-Bush era.
Couldn't say it better myself.
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