If you watch the Story TV Channel evenings you’ve surely seen an intense advertisement for the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU. Its actors tell us how the ACLU is fighting for our rights and urges us to send a contribution right away.
I used to be a member, half a century ago, but dropped out when I noticed that the ACLU was strangely silent on our Second, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights. Today’s ACLU, writes Noah Rothman in National Review, has “turned away from advocacy of free speech for its own sake, to advocacy of speech its members like.”
“The group felt compelled to advance the cause of social justice by adopting a set of new guidelines for its conduct. The ACLU’s new mandate precludes the defense of speech by interests perceived to be powerful enough already, speech by right wing organizations whose ‘values are contrary to our vslues, or any speech that might cause offense to marginalized groups. He goes on to describe the purge of seven Florida ACLU Board members who objected to ACLU’s partisan political activity and its active promotion of left wing socio-economic issues.
It’s sad that the once principled ACLU has come to this state, but if you want to defend the Bill or Rights – all of it, not just the parts favored by the progressive left – you’re going to have to keep looking for a home.
Author is the former Vice President of the Ethan Allen Institute. He founded the Institute in 1993 and served as its President until August 2009. He is a former member of the Vermont House and Senate and was Senior Policy Advisor in President Reagan’s White House.