I refused to be ruled by fear.

I refuse to let all their anti-American legislation to force me to walk away from what I do here. I will NOT let their arm-twisting and legal wrangling make me shed the part of me that is willing to speak freely.

I am an American. I am a child of the 1st Amendment.

I will not be told to hold my tongue. If I am, I will not obey. The right to speak freely, to criticize those who hold high places, to condemn those who commit heinous crimes in my name. I reserve this right without being called a traitor, guilty of sedition, or un-American.

I am none of these things. I'm a believer in America, in Americans, in the dream that was America.

I once saw a tee-shirt that said:

"If this is no longer the land of the free, I sure hope it's the home of the brave."

I find this an appropriate phrase, even though I spotted this shirt in the mid-eighties. Hell, I thought it was fairly appropriate then.

I was pretty radical in my youth. Not noisily so. But radical still the same. I had a feeling this stuff was coming, and tried to warn everyone throughout the Reagan years. I even pointed out the things that made me edgy during the Clinton administration.

Like the acceleration of the Drug War, which I saw as a way to test the public's response to attacks on the 4th Amendment in particular. How much liberty they'd be willing to trade for the illusion of security.

I won't bow under the pressure or shrink in fear from their bullying. I had my fill of bullying when I was a kid.

Never again.

After all, what are they going to do--take away my Birthday?