Get a clue on value of dissent

Wonderful letter from Melanie Kriese of Campbell, Calif., in today's San Jose Mercury News: Get a clue on value of dissent.

My kitchen table now has a forehead-sized dent in it. For this I would like to thank the myriad letter writers who regard questioning the president and the policies of his administration as unpatriotic and, yes, even treasonous. Perhaps as a public service, the Mercury News would consider printing -- in full -- the Federalist Papers, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. For those who have neither the time nor the inclination to reacquaint themselves with these documents (all once considered treasonous), a couple of quotes to ponder: Benjamin Franklin once said, ``They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.'' And from Albert Einstein, ``Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.''

I'd add three more quotes, all from journalist Edward R. Murrow:

• "We cannot defend freedom abroad by deserting it at home. "

• "We will not walk in fear, one of another. We will not be driven by fear into an age of unreason if we dig deep in our history and doctrine and remember that we are not descended from fearful men, not from men who feared to write, to speak, to associate and to defend causes which were for the moment unpopular. We can deny our heritage and our history, but we cannot escape responsibility for the result. There is no way for a citizen of the Republic to abdicate his responsibility." - From the March 9, 1954, "See It Now" television broadcast on Senator Joe McCarthy.

• No one can terrorize a whole nation, unless we are all his accomplices." – Speech to staff, March 9, 1954