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Dissent is Not Sedition

Some liberals have taken up the deeply irresponsible habit of accusing vitriolic critics of the Obama administration of sedition. (Some conservatives did the same during the Bush administration.) Brendan Nyhan has made a useful habit of chronicling the rhetorical offenders. Perhaps the worst is Joe Klein, who has defined sedition to include "questioning an Administration's legitimacy in a manner intended to undermine or overthrow it." Undermining the Administration, of course, is part of what the opposition party does in a democracy. Sedition is a serious accusation, and even ignorant demagogues likes Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are not engaging in it.