‘Straight laced’ society has long embraced the tired, stodgy concept that in order to be a patriotic American you must meet a certain moral criteria and never “rock the boat.”   A reminder to the square community, this country was established with ideals that encompassed a diametrically opposing attitude to conformity; the attitude of rebellion and revolution.  Sure, early America wasn’t perfect, we’re a fundamentally flawed species and perfection is just simply out of reach, but new hope did emerge from this attitude.

As Frank Zappa said, “without deviation from the norm, progress in not possible.”   What this means, in the sense of progress, is that our country, our civilization, as a vessel, requires fuel to move forward.  This fuel is dissent; it is the flames of discontent.  Conformity, silence or fear doesn’t move anything, it generates stagnation.  It is the fiery passion of people who stand up, fight back, and voice their opposition that drives civilization forward.

Don’t let anyone tell you that you’re ‘Un-American’ because your new ideas don’t match their antiquated ones.  Dissent is Patriotic!