Sherry Hearn's story, as told by Nat Hentoff, is worthy of a tale of
terror by Stephen King ("Teacher defends constitutional rights," Sweet
Land of Liberty, Op-Ed, April 10). So many of us have forgotten that
our rights were not written into the Constitution by the Founders, who
made a point by their resistance to the Bill of Rights. Many of the
Founders believed that our rights were granted by the Creator and
could not be listed so easily.

The Constitution was written as a restricting document against the
federal government. Whatever power was not granted to the federal
government remained with the people. We, the people, formed our
government, granting it some of our rights. We must not forget that
the power remains with us, or we will find ourselves with the horror
of an absolute government that believes itself to be our creator
instead of our creation.

Beware of the chant: The government giveth, and the government taketh
away. Blessed be the name of the government.

ANTHONY PASSANITI,
San Antonio