Ralph Nader spoke at BU last night and after his speech, I was the first person to ask him a question (don't tase me, bro!).
He spoke quite a bit about the importance of young people becoming politically active. I cited the Homegrown Terrorism act that I'd read about here and asked what his response was to those of us who were afraid of political activism lest we be categorized as dissidents and our careers be hemmed in and futures blocked. He said that many of his peers were similarly concerned during the McCarthy era, when they were at risk for being labeled as unamerican -- but that a professor had put it this way: don't think about it; the moment you do, you start censoring yourself and you already become ensnared. If they're going to keep a record on you, you might as well fill it as soon as possible.
I'm not sure I agree with this, but his speech really got me thinking.