"WE DID NOT VOTE FOR BUSH." Those words were handwritten on the back of a menu by the US women’s bridge team and held aloft during the award ceremony at the world team championships in Shanghai last month. The team had just won the tournament, destroying Germany in the final, and were making what they thought was a small political statement. It wasn’t a particularly radical message (who else didn’t vote for Bush?), and it was made spontaneously, in a moment of international goodwill and humor.

As today’s NYT chronicles, the United States Bridge Federation was not amused. Its president, Jan Martel, and executive board are pushing for tough sanctions against the entire team–a one-year suspension, plus a one-year probation, 200 hours of bridge-related community service and a formal apology. Bridge Federation lawyer Alan Falk threatened team members with "greater sanction" if they reject the Federation’s offer. Team members have been accused by other players of "treason" and "sedition," according to the NYT. On message boards they’ve been compared to the Dixie Chicks and Tommie Smith and John Carlos–US sprinters who raised a fist in salute to Black Power at the 1968 Olympics and were subsequently ejected from the games.

This is not your grandmother’s card game! I’ve dabbled in the world of bridge myself, and as anyone who’s played a tournament can tell you–bridge is ruthless. Little old ladies, so sweet pre-game, will mercilessly ruff you up once the cards are dealt. But what are the folks at the Bridge Federation thinking? The game’s logic is punitive (you get spanked for bidding too high), but the game itself should not be–particularly on matters of free speech. Nothing makes the game look more backwards, small-minded and elitist than punishing a championship team for using their moment of glory to send a political message well within the mainstream of American society. What’s next? Banning certain t-shirts? Buttons? Maybe bridge should only be played in uniform?

But take heart, the fabulous ladies at the center of this controversy aren’t ready to make nice, and I’m glad they’re putting up a fight. All across this country the common but courageous dissent of citizens is being censored and attacked. Anti-war vets calling for withdrawal from Iraq were banned from a parade in Long Beach, CA. High school students in Chicago are threatened with expulsion for staging a peaceful anti-war protest. More than a dozen anti-war protesters, fittingly wearing gags over their mouths, were arrested outside of Boston’s city hall.

And the list goes on. As individual incidents, each provoke a momentary pang of sympathy, a head nod, maybe an exasperated email to your bridge buddies. But taken as a whole, I suspect it adds up to a more disturbing picture–of a nation that went quietly mad, except for a few who spoke up and were ostracized for it; of a country where politics became so estranged from everyday life, that the ordinary expression of it was called treason.

If you’re mad as hell and want to support the US women’s bridge team–email Jan Martel (President, United States Bridge Federation) at janmartel@comcast.net and the board at board@usbf.org. Left-leaning, free-speech loving bridge players are especially encouraged!