Re: your Oct. 14 article, "Conference expected to draw figures key to fall of the Berlin Wall":
I applaud the Reagan Library for holding events emphasizing the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on Nov. 9.
While we won the Cold War, we face continuing challenges to our freedom and Constitution. We are asked to give up our rights to defeat terrorism (with the Patriot Act), or protect the children, the environment, or those with sensitive ears. Constitutional issues arise with undeclared wars and unprecedented bailouts of "too large to fail" corporations.
One reporter recently asked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., "Where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?" Pelosi derisively dismissed the question by saying, "Are you serious? Are you serious?"
Contrary to Pelosi, Congress has no constitutional authority to legislate healthcare, and this reform violates the Fourth Amendment by giving the government access to our personal healthcare and financial information. And if you do not obtain "acceptable" health insurance, you will be fined without the due process protection of the Fifth Amendment.
Twenty years after the Berlin Wall fell, we must continue to be alert to violations of our freedom. Libertarians recognize that our rights are under assault from both the left and the right as we slide down a slippery slope to more state control. Such equal-opportunity duplicity was also evidenced in the Pentagon Papers, which documented government lies about the Vietnam War through five presidents, from Harry Truman to Richard Nixon. ("The leak that stunned a nation," TimeOut Oct. 30-Nov. 6).
Thomas Jefferson warned, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." We must demand that our representatives uphold the oath they took to support the Constitution.
-- Bruce K. Bell, Moorpark