If Nancy Pelosi, or any legislator, were to return to their home offices during a legislative break. This would be the scenario if a group of veterans were demonstrating: The legislator drives up to the federal building or office. Demonstrators obtruct her/his ability to get from the car to the door. Then as Nancy(legislator) tries to make her/his way, placard carrying Veterans yell to support our troops and allow them to fight terrorism. As Nancy(or him) walks to the door, there are Veterans and families of military people chained to the entrance obstructing and impeding Nancy(or other legislator) ability to get to her/his offices.

U.S. Marshalls rush out of the Federal building from other entrances as they call for local law enforcement backup. If there are other Federal Law Enforcement Agents in the building, they swarm out, too.

Bolt cutters magically appear and begin to cut the chains. Police begin dragging off the Veterans and haul them to jail. The Veterans and some military family demonstrators are booked, arraigned and charged with various crimes: Impeding, threatening a federal official, endangerment, disruption, civil rights violations, hate crimes, etc. Some may be fined, others may spend jail time. Since I have experience in the government and have worked in a Federal Building, this is not a hypothetical scenario.

Now, a military recruiter is subjected to the situation. Do federal Marshalls come to his rescue? Do the local police in Berkely do anything? Are the more physical Code Pink members carted off to jail? Do the protestors who chain themselves to doors, get arrested or fined for impedence or any other crime?

Get the picture? The military recruiter is also a federal agent and employee? But, his/her civil rights are less important than a legislator’s or a member of “Code Pink.” Nancy Pelosi would be protected and supported by the full letter of the law, quickly and thoroughly. Both by federal and civil law. A legislator is a servant of the people, who enjoys immense prestige and comforts. A military recruiter is a servant of the people, who does his job with minimal comforts, supports himself on a pay scale below the national average, and is subjected to derision and indignities at the hands of groups like Code Pink.

So, does that military recruiter have the benefits of equal justice or consideration under our laws? You all draw your own conclusions. Nancy Pelosi and her colleagues have never faced life on the receiving end of an AK-47, a rocket propelled grenade, or scanning side walks, roads and trails for explosive booby traps. Nancy Pelosi and some of her colleagues have never crawled through a combat course with 1/4 pound blocks of TNT going off, with live machine gun bullets whipping overhead.

So, why is it,a legislator receives more support, prestige, pay and benefits, and protection under the law, than a military person? Believe me, I know the procedures for demonstrators impeding the progress of legislators trying to get to and from their offices. Just remember this–if this gets posted–the reality is, right now, that a legislator who is a servant of the people, would have more rights and protection under the law, than what our recruiters are dealing with in Berkely and other cities in the U.S. Yet, our military personnel put their lives on the line, everyday, for a lot less recompense and protection under the law, than some one-term legislator “feathering” his/her nest as a hedge against being re-elected.

Perhaps, the Constitution needs to be amended so that no politician can be elected to federal office, without having served in some type of federal service…VA Hospitals, Army Corps of Engineers, the Peace Corps, Vista, the Armed Forces. That system seems to work in other democracies or parliamentary governments, why not ours. It’s obvious that many of our legislators have no concept of what real service to our country entails. It was all too apparent at some of the legislative sessions and soirees, I attended.

S/F
Mark
USMC(Ret)

Senator (name) Do you feel the City of Berkeley broke the law with its anti-Marine recruiting stance? Do you support Code Pink/Other protestors being prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law if they are found to be in violation of any Federal/State Law by anyone who is impeding recruitment of men and women into the United States military.