Saturday, February 11, 2006
Rights and Duties
The case of Laura Berg, a clinical nurse with the US Veterans Administration in Albuquerque, raises some poignant questions. The letter she wrote to a weekly newspaper in which she said "I am furious with the tragically misplaced priorities and criminal negligence of this government," and continued on to say, "We need to wake up and get real here, and act forcefully to remove a government administration playing games of smoke and mirrors and vicious deceit," has gotten her accused of sedition by the VA.
Not that this case will necessarily go anywhere beyond a civil liberties case of harassment and perhaps wrongful termination should she be fired, but Ms. Berg has hit the nail on the head in terms of our constitutional protections, rights and duties as citizens. Unlike countries in which might makes right, Americans have the right and duty to oppose with all the means at their disposal an illegitimate, unlawful administration bent on usurping powers and violating rights in clear violation of the supreme law of the land.
Ms. Berg didn't make this up, she didn't recommend terrorism, she merely observed what many would prefer not to think about--that as citizens, it's up to us to oppose and not cooperate with, in any way within our abilities, a government that has for five years consistently undermined our security and well-being and functioned as the most egregious ongoing criminal enterprise our country has ever known. God bless her.
Not that this case will necessarily go anywhere beyond a civil liberties case of harassment and perhaps wrongful termination should she be fired, but Ms. Berg has hit the nail on the head in terms of our constitutional protections, rights and duties as citizens. Unlike countries in which might makes right, Americans have the right and duty to oppose with all the means at their disposal an illegitimate, unlawful administration bent on usurping powers and violating rights in clear violation of the supreme law of the land.
Ms. Berg didn't make this up, she didn't recommend terrorism, she merely observed what many would prefer not to think about--that as citizens, it's up to us to oppose and not cooperate with, in any way within our abilities, a government that has for five years consistently undermined our security and well-being and functioned as the most egregious ongoing criminal enterprise our country has ever known. God bless her.
