Email to Maureen Dowd at NYTimers May 2, 2007 re her column “Slam’s Silence” I have long thought it a defect in the American character that we rarely, indeed almost never, hear of a resignation from government because of a serious disagreement over important policy decisions. I'm not sure if it is still the case, but not long ago it wasn't all that uncommon to read of a British minister, or one on the Continent, resigning because of a disagreement with leadership of his government. In America, such an act is viewed as "quitting," or "showboating," or "not being a team player," or the worst, "being disloyal." This of course represents a terribly perverted and rather fascistic notion of "loyalty," something akin to the child's game of "follow the leader." Assuming there are many men and women of conscience serving in government, think of how many should have resigned as a matter of principle as Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld led the country ever deeper into the abyss and what effect such resignations might have had in alerting the public to what was really going on behind all the lies.