The case of Former Nebraska State Patrol Trooper Robert Henderson is fascinating to me. Long story short, Mr. Henderson is a member of a group associated with the Ku Klux Klan. The State Patrol didn't think that was consistent with its principles, so it fired him. Now, Henderson has also been fired from the Nebraska Safety Council.
The fascinating part, to me, is the question of where the line is drawn regarding which organizations a person can belong to, and which beliefs he can profess, before it is OK for the government to act against him. There are easy cases: a person who has expressed a desire to kill the President probably shouldn't be allowed to work with the Secret Service, no matter how qualified he may be. Henderson's case is somewhat fuzzier. He hasn't broken the law, he hasn't been accused of failing to properly do his job. Instead, he was fired only for his association with an organization.
It's easy to understand why the Patrol wouldn't want a person associated with the Klan among its ranks. The missions of the Patrol and the Klan are, shall we say, inconsistent with each other. I don't think I would have any problem with the Patrol not hiring a person like Henderson. But firing him for his association with an organization feels very wrong.
I don't expect many of you agree with me, and that's fine. But if you don't, I ask this of you: Where is the line? Who gets to draw the line? Which organizations and beliefs are OK, and which are not?
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You know that case has made waves all the way down here. You know the military allows a person to have what ever belief they wany (as it should be) however we are not allowed to be “active” in the organization. Unfortunatly the word active is subjective.
I am of two minds. On one hand, I think one should be able to have some semblance of a private life, even as a government worker. On the other, I know that having a guy ont he force with those type of affiliations is a liability.
There have been cops fired for much less than this. I think it’s one of those things you just have to accept- if you want to be a cop, you have to agree to uphold certain values in both private and public life.
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