Taking on the ACLU

The ACLU is an organization often maligned by political conservatives. Putatively, it seeks merely to preserve individual rights granted by the "Bill of Rights" and other subsequent amendments to the U.S Constitution. It also seeks to extend those rights to groups to which they have been traditionally denied. In doing so, it has actually taken up causes from all sides of the political spectrum, not merely the "left".

When they show up in court, you trifle with them at your own peril. The lawyers who work for them are smart, powerful, and generally very committed since they all work pro bono. Fighting them is generally difficult and expensive.

They have actually done some pretty admirable things in this labor of love. I can't say I automatically disagree with their positions; if they are involved, the issue is generally worth some consideration.

My problem with them begins when, by employing a rigid ideology and a literal interpretation of law with a bias toward absolute freedom, they end up "preserving" or "extending" a personal right that may not actually exist.

For example, I have a problem with the degree to which the separation of church and state has been prosecuted. My feeling is that the founding fathers' intent was to insure that no single, state-sponsored religion existed, or could be imposed on anyone. Although I think religion should not be worn on your sleeve, I am at odds with the numerous proscriptions of the public practice of religion. If someone wishes to take a moment to face east and pray at a specified time of day, and they happen to be at the mall, how does that injure me if I am walking by? Let them pray to who or whatever they wish, as long as they allow me the same right.

I also have a hard time with anyone who champions the legalization of harmful drugs; drugs that cannot have any real therapeutic benefit except for momentary detachment from reality. IMHO, alcohol falls in this same category. Alcohol and nicotine are the last non-prescription legal drugs, and together they have ruined far more lives than all illegal drugs put together. We tried getting rid of alcohol once, and couldn't make it work. That failure does not make the horrible damage alcohol does any less pernicious. I cannot condone any effort by the ACLU (or any other group) to legalize the private use of any such harmful substances.

How can anyone defend the business of pornography? It is a blight on our society and it, too, has ruined lives. Now we're awash in it and the ranks of addicts grow by the day. If someone wants to do something in the privacy of their own home, among consenting adults, that is their right. (Believe me, I'm no prude.) But I cannot believe the BUSINESS of pornography is a "victimless" crime. How many women have had their relationships with men (and vice versa) shattered by its influence? How many children have been forever injured as unwitting or unwilling victims of its production? How is that defensible at all, much less for the profit it brings its purveyors? How hollow does the exalted term, "freedom of speech" ring against the ravaged lives in pornography's wake?

Abortion is always a hot button issue. I do not equate it with murder, but I think it is close. It ought to be MUCH rarer than it is. There are times when I think it is absolutely justified, such as cases of rape, incest, or where the mother's life is truly endangered. Still, I believe this terribly difficult decision ought to have NOTHING to do with convenience, or preserving a lifestyle. Even so, I absolutely condemn the actions of those who have taken the law into their own hands to try to stop its legal practice.

Suicide? Another very hot button. My personal belief is that God schedules our arrival here on earth, and ought to schedule our departure. Having said that, I do not believe in keeping anyone alive on a machine who has zero chance of ever being anything more than a vegetable. If the ACLU thinks otherwise, I oppose them.