sedition
[si-dish-uh n]
noun
1. incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government.
2. any action, especially in speech or writing, promoting such discontent or rebellion.

insurrection
[in-suh-rek-shuh n]
noun
1. an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.

People who know me know I don’t have a lot of patience with intolerance or injustice. Thankfully, it’s turning out that a number of government employees don’t either.

NASA, the National Park Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Forest Service are just some of the government agencies that recently came under fire in President Donald Trump’s effort to time travel back to 1984. They didn’t take overly well to his fondness for George Orwell’s detailed how-to-screw-your-country description.

Free research and the behind-the-scenes spreading of information by these agencies and citizens acting on their behalf are competing with Trump’s presidential orders and tweets. This is a country based on freedom of speech, and they aim to keep that going even if it means their jobs.

There’s a lot of things Trump said he wanted during his presidential campaign, but I don’t think he was counting on the sedition he churned up in his first weeks of being in office to create insurrection among not only federal workers, but a good portion of U.S. citizens as well. There’s a lot we’ll put up with, but being told to shut up, keep secrets from each other or stop trying to figure things out aren’t anywhere close to what Americans do well.

I don’t like politics. I don’t like people who pride themselves on being bullies. But I proudly like knowing there are people in this country’s government and citizenry who take freedom of speech and doing their job seriously enough to protect the rest of us from those bullies.