From a reader:

What about when that dissent causes the death of American soldiers? The terrorists are using the words and actions of the anti-war crowd to prop up morale. This insurgency might have died already if not for them thinking they just need to wait us out. It’s what General Giap did in Vietnam.

That’s an interesting view of causality. Does a dissenter cause the death of American soldiers by voicing an opinion? It was surely unpatriotic for some to collude with the communist enemy during the Vietnam War, and allege phony atrocities under oath (ahem, thinking of of a former presidential candidate here). That’s called “spreading enemy propaganda.”

But what about ordinary people of good faith, who love their country, simply expressing an opinion that a particular war is not worth the loss of life? I thought that the soldiers were fighting precisely for our freedom to express that opinion.

Rather than dissenters, I would think it’s the insurgents who are killing the soldiers. But if you really want to blame someone besides them, why trace it to dissenters? What about the people who support the war? Soldiers wouldn’t die in wars if they never started. But no, that’s also silly, of course — war supporters who act in good faith aren’t causing deaths either.

The reason we have a public conversation about wars is that they are important, and our political leaders are not infallible when they decide to start them. Both sides have a right to be in the conversation.

I trust in our democratic institutions to keep our country from ever engaging in a truly unjustified “bad” war.

Vox populi, vox Dei? I hope that doesn’t apply to domestic policy as well.