First: Yes, I am a member, or as we used to say, a card carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union. Back in the 1950s, before I really had any clear idea of what was going on, many of the teachers in my school would discuss the ACLU and some sort of allegiance document they were being forced to sign in order to keep their jobs teaching in California schools. It was the time of Joe McCarthy and the shameful House Un-American Activities committee. At that time my Dad was a teacher and I expect I picked up some of the gossip and concern from him and his colleagues.
I had no idea who or what the ACLU was and at that time it was probably easier to hear the ACLU discussed in a very derogatory manner than it was to hear any praise. But when I got older, I changed: I put away my cap guns and no longer chased Quanah Parker across the badlands of my backyard; I rooted for Stevenson and was deflated each time he was defeated my Eisenhower; and I discovered I actually liked eating stewed tomatoes. It was probably during the Democratic Convention when Estes Kefauver and Jack Kennedy fought it out for the nomination for Vice Presidential candidate that I began to understand and appreciate politics and what America was all about (and my distrust of the Kennedys).
Around this time I realized how important an organization like the ACLU was in supporting and defending the American liberties. It was liberty for all and I realized sometimes defending those liberties made a lot of enemies for the ACLU, but then as now I truly believe those who complain the most about the ACLU are the real enemies of Freedom and Democracy.
Into the ’60s I was up-front-and-center for a lot of history being made. One thing most people remember about the ’60s was the assassination of John Kennedy and the assassination of Martin Luther King. It always bothered me, however, that after seeing the villainous head of the American Nazi Party speak, his soon-after assassination was quick news and quickly forgotten. I hated George Lincoln Rockwell and despised everything he stood for, but he deserved more than just to be gunned down. You could say similar things about George Wallace or Larry Flynt. And what about all the assassinations or attempted assassinations that followed: Robert Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, Ronald Reagan, Jerry Ford, and so many others.
Well, America is quick to resolve its differences with a bullet or a bomb. It may never change.
So who is one of my heroes? You guessed it: it’s William Kunstler! I’ll just say that I consider him one of our greatest patriots, a man who dedicated his life to supporting the rights and freedoms of all Americans (not just the ones he liked). I miss him.
But what does the ACLU have to say about this Hobby Lobby debacle? Her are some quotations from the ACLU In Action email I received today:
Think the Supreme Court’s ruling in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby was just about birth control? Think again.
Immediately after the Hobby Lobby ruling, Rick Warren and other high-profile religious leaders began lobbying the Obama administration. Their demand? A religious exemption from his executive order which would ban federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. This is not about freedom of religion—it’s about corporations using religion as a license to discriminate with taxpayer dollars. …
The Court’s decision created the potential for far-reaching, discriminatory ramifications. In their ruling, they set a dangerous precedent, sanctioning discrimination against women under the guise of religious liberty. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said it best: “the court, I fear, has ventured into a minefield.” …
Our bosses’ beliefs shouldn’t impact our rights as an employee. Let’s stop this before the floodgates open.
And to think the highest court in the land is packed with a bunch of ideological cretins. And notice, it’s the women on the court who are showing the greatest judicial acumen and demonstrating once and for all that allowing men to be in charge is possibly the greatest danger our civilization will ever face.
(You realize this is why men are running around now trying to go back to the 19th century when women knew their place. Good luck with that … the genie is out of the bottle and is never going back).
A Celebration of Reading 