While the political polarization that has occurred after President Trump’s victory in 2016 may have had negative effects in that it is making it more and more difficult for opponents on both sides of certain issues to find common ground, it has had one major benefit. Those who oppose the Constitution and the basic rights it recognizes are no longer hiding behind the Constitution’s language or attempting to sugarcoat their positions. Now they are right out in the open advocating against restricting the rights of their political opponents or otherwise demonstrating that they only advocate for civil rights when it is convenient for them.
One of those organizations that now has shown its true colors is the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Originally founded in the 1920s to defend civil liberties, particularly the freedom of speech, a recently leaked internal memo now shows that the ACLU will no longer defend the First Amendment when it conflicts with the organization’s goals with respect to “social justice, racial equality, and women’s rights.”
While the organization has always had a left-wing orientation, one thing that could be said about it was that it was fairly consistent in its defense of free speech. It was the ACLU that, despite its close cooperation with the NAACP during the civil rights era in working against racial discrimination, defended the free speech rights of KKK leaders and defended the right of the KKK to march and demonstrate. And despite the national organization’s long-standing reluctance to defend the Second Amendment, the organization every now and then through its state affiliates happened to stand up for the gun rights of individuals in a handful of cases.
Now the facade of impartial defense of civil liberties has gone by the wayside, as the organization is once and for all exposed as being more concerned with left-wing goals of social justice, gay and transgender activism, and the “right” of women to murder their children in the womb. While the ACLU’s interpretation of the First Amendment was long used to break down traditional societal mores, at least its absolutist position had remained consistent over the years. But no more.
Now that the ACLU can no longer be depended on to protect the First Amendment rights of persecuted groups that it deems undesirable, it is more important than ever for conservatives to create and promote organizations of their own that are devoted to defending civil liberties. In a society in which public school indoctrination has led to people becoming increasingly intolerant of conservative and religious points of view, defending the Bill of Rights has become more important than ever.