by Leigh Goessl

Created on: September 06, 2007

The Freedom of Speech gives every American the right to speak out against its leadership without fear of persecution. Does a former U.S. President have these same freedom of speech rights? Of course, clearly a president that has previously served as commander-in-chief is included in sharing this right.

The query of should a former president speak out against a current president is different from one of whether or not he has the right to do so. There is a significant difference between the two as it does not apply to a question of constitutional rights, but rather one of ethical judgment. It does not imply a former leader does not have this right. That being the case, should he exercise the right to publicly speak out against a current president?

A former president should not publicly condemn a current president, but should rather offer the same level of courtesy and respect he/she received while president. If a former U.S. leader does not approve of the behavior and/or decisions the current president has made, the ethical choice would be to respect the presidential office and voice those concerns in a private conference. The criticism a former leader makes in a public forum has a lot of negative impact, reflecting badly on the nation.

When President Carter openly vocalized discord against President Bush it dominated the media and garnered a lot of attention, creating divergence. I feel that his publicizing negative opinions against our current president detracted from national focus on the present issues and deflected attention away from finding solutions to current problems. This type of situation may embolden U.S. enemies and dissuade allies as well. When a former president brings his dissatisfaction to the mainstreams, it not only generates internal conflict, it compounds issues which further subverts attention from addressing the external conflicts in need of deliberation. I am sure that President Carter would not have appreciated it if his predecessors had criticized his failed attempt to rescue the hostages taken by Iran during his term of office. As history indicates, his presidency wasn't exactly the most popular one considering at one time his lowest approval ratings were slightly lower than President Bush's ever were. Yet no president came forward and diminished his administration.

Since former leaders hold a vast repository of experience and knowledge, they can be pivotal in finding solutions. However, it must be recognized that over the decades that

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