The Dissident

So, after my business trip to San Antonio, another (very brief) business trip to Baton Rouge, a week vacation in Arkansas, and a ton of work to catch up on those missed days, I think I'm almost back to where I can post regularly again.

I'm still getting caught up on personal email and I'm reading through the OpinionJournal Best Of The Web issues I missed. I found the following in the November 22 issue and thought it was worth sharing.

Last week President Bush met with Natan Sharansky, the Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician who has long advocated democracy in the Arab world as the way to peace, and whose new book, "The Case for Democracy," is a favorite of the president's. In National Review Online, Joel Rosenberg quotes Sharansky describing the meeting:

"I told the president, 'There is a great difference between politicians and dissidents. Politicians are focused on polls and the press. They are constantly making compromises. But dissidents focus on ideas. They have a message burning inside of them. They would stand up for their convictions no matter what the consequences.'

"I told the president, 'In spite of all the polls warning you that talking about spreading democracy in the Middle East might be a losing issue--despite all the critics and the resistance you faced--you kept talking about the importance of free societies and free elections. You kept explaining that democracy is for everybody. You kept saying that only democracy will truly pave the way to peace and security. You, Mr. President, are a dissident among the leaders of the free world.' "

Critics of the administration's foreign policy argue that this is "unrealistic." But we saw the fruits of "realism" on Sept. 11, 2001, and the American people rejected it this month when they voted against John Kerry, the candidate of the status quo ante. President Bush, meanwhile, has a bold agenda and only four more years left to accomplish it. One can hardly blame him for acting to remove from his administration those who would stand in the way.