Right now, as COVID-19 rages across the U.S., we need to be careful about our governments gathering power, like in times past when crises arose. Abraham Lincoln shut down the free press, as well as drafting even those who did not want to go. FDR with the Executive Order 6102 banned gold as any type of currency, when the Constitution stated originally that only gold and silver should be money. Bush used 9/11 to pass the PATRIOT Act, violating the Fourth Amendment. Why should we think that we have changed since those times?
It’s only been 19 years since 9/11.
As Thomas Jefferson said “The Tree of Liberty must be refreshed time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”
Keep tabs on your civil rights, everyone, and stay free.
Nathaniel Ira Reynolds,
Juneau
• Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.