People Should not be Afraid of their Government

Today I was wondering downtown and there was a man trying to get people to sign a petition to put up a ballot measure to legalize marijuana. I put my signature down, and gladly, though even if it gets on the ballot it won't pass, even if it does pass the courts will likely overturn it, but my signature is where it belongs.

My issue is, as the man was passing on, he approached a woman and asked her to sign the petition. She refused, but I heard her say what her reasoning was: she is a teacher and she is afraid she will lose her job.

I will start with the less offensive assumption that being in support of legalized pot is equivalent to smoking pot. Coming out in support of legalizing marijuana doesn't even mean the you agree with people smoking it. Supporting legalized marijuana only means that you don't believe the government should restrict marijuana use and/or sale.

The more offensive item is the idea that your political opinions can be used against you by the government or your employer, and especially a government employer. If they did use it against you it would be a clear violation of free speech and any judge worth their metal would not allow it and probably grant a large civil settlement as well. The problem I see here is that any citizen should fear that voicing their opinion would result in government retribution.

I know it's anecdotal, but if one person is thinking it I'm sure there are many others. In the words of V for Vendetta, "People should not be afraid of their government; government should be afraid of their people."