Before everyone grabs their muskets to enforce our rights of free speech, especially in politics, there are many instances where anonymity is a normal practice and for good reasons.

All the voting in both the U.S. and Canada for all political offices, including the highest in both lands, is done by secret ballot. Most companies accept criticisms from employees with the promise that names will not be made public. Political surveys are conducted every single day with unsigned opinions.

This does not mean that we have the right to accuse someone in secret, which goes against all our principles. It does not mean that we have the right to spread hate literature or be bigots under a disguise. But a vote or a proposal that might cause a neighbor to harbor ill feelings about another, can still be made under a pseudonym, or voted on by secret ballot without compromising our freedoms.

An unsigned opinion is not necessarily subversive.

Gerry Silverman, a Lighthouse Pointe resident