To: president@whitehouse.gov (Bill Clinton)
From: mkb4@Cornell.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
Subject: Rob Schenck and freedom of speech

Today's _Washington Post_ (A24, col. 1) reports that at a Christmas Eve service
at the National Cathedral, your Secret Service agents detained a National Clergy
Council official, Rev. Rob Schenck, after he quietly told you, 'God will hold
you to account, Mr. President.'

It is unacceptable that a peaceably delivered act of free speech, addressed to
the leader of a government that claims to be of, by, and for the people, can
cause a person to be deprived of his liberty.

I happen to support your veto of the ban on partial birth abortion, the action
to which the clergyman in question was objecting.  But that's not the issue
here.  Rather, the issue is one of freedom of speech for all people and all
views.  As Voltaire said, 'I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to
the death your right to say it.'