Indeed, you would think their blinking lives depended on them keeping quiet.I
would say, their credibility and honour depends on them answering.
As to the measures
we are forced to use.
To quote you, "It shouldn't be necessary to adopt these tactics
and no-one really relishes it."
I did not like having to use the trademark - Don
'Littlechick' Evans (Secretary of US DoC) Department of Chickens.
It was a year
before I was forced into resorting to it.
Like you say - it should not be necessary.
Thousands
have seen what 'Littlechick' thinks of free speech - seen him jumping on the First
Amendment.
It shows the disdain to which he is held - at least by me - as person
of good reasoned logic, IMHO ;-)
I believe Evans and his predecessor (Mineta),
avoided the fundemental question of my emails, so have no credibility or honour whatsoever.