Liberty blithely usurped

Are you kidding me? The premise of a bill being sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, Scott Brown and others is that if we are found to have provided material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization or participated in actions against the United States – with the intent of relinquishing our citizenship – we will lose it, even without a jury trial. The bill is a response to the political right’s outrage over the Mirandizing of the New York bomber.

I am dismayed and provoked by the willingness of some legislators and media pundits to deprive American citizens of their civil liberties.

“The right to remain silent …” is based not only on the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment, but also on the principles of natural law laid down in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal,” not just American citizens.

Usurpation of one person’s liberty implies the right to usurp any American’s liberty. We must either stand by the principles of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution or become just another dangerous mob. Demagogues promoting fear and insurrection are the harbingers of tyranny. Check the facts. Get involved. Our liberty depends on it.

James C. Lanham

Cheney