Ben Shapiro calls for legislation to prosecute critics of the Iraq War for sedition (2006)

It is now considered bad form to criticize those who commit seditious acts against the United States.  Challenging the patriotism of a traitor draws more ire than engaging in treasonable activities.  Calling out those who undermine our nation creates more of a backlash than actually undermining our nation.

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At some point, opposition must be considered disloyal.  At some point, the American people must say "enough."  At some point, Republicans in Congress must stop delicately tiptoeing with regard to sedition and must pass legislation to prosecute such sedition. 

"Freedom of speech!" the American Civil Liberties Union will protest.  Before we buy into the slogan, we must remember our history. President Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus and allowed governmental officials to arrest Rep. Clement Vallandigham after Vallandigham called the Civil War "cruel" and "wicked," shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers, and had members of the Maryland legislature placed in prison to prevent Maryland's secession.  The Union won the Civil War.

Under the Espionage Act of 1917, opponents of World War I were routinely prosecuted, and the Supreme Court routinely upheld their convictions.  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes rightly wrote, "When a nation is at war, many things that might be said in time of peace are such a hindrance to its effort that their utterance will not be endured so long as men fight and that no Court could regard them as protected by any constitutional right."  The Allies won World War I.

During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the internment of hundreds of thousands of Japanese-Americans, as well as allowing the prosecution and/or deportation of those who opposed the war.  The Allies won World War II.

During the Vietnam War, the Supreme Court repeatedly upheld the free speech rights of war opponents, whether those opponents distributed leaflets depicting the rape of the Statue of Liberty or wore jackets emblazoned with the slogan "F--- the Draft."  America lost the Vietnam War.

This is not to argue that every measure taken by the government to prosecute opponents of American wars is just or right or Constitutional.  Some restrictions, however, are just and right and Constitutional -- and necessary.  No war can be won when members of a disloyal opposition are given free reign to undermine it.

~ Ben Shapiro, "Should We Prosecute Sedition?," February 15, 2006