T wenty years ago this month, Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis had a 15-point lead in the polls over Republican George H.W. Bush — an advantage that evaporated after Bush pointed out that Dukakis described himself as “a card-carrying member of the ACLU.” To many Americans, that immediately identified Dukakis as a member of the fringe element: One of those silly people who sue to have creches removed from courthouse lawns at Christmas.
Given that nothing is more important to the preservation of a free society than the protection of civil liberties, it is lamentable that the ACLU wastes so much effort attacking people and practices that cause no harm and defending those that do.
Last week, for instance, the ACLU urged Congress to “act in the best interest of young people” by eliminating funding for abstinence-until-marriage programs. How does it infringe on anyone’s civil liberties for the government to encourage teenagers to behave in a way that eliminates the possibility of pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease?
The ACLU also threatened last week to sue the United States Naval Academy unless it abolishes its 163-year tradition of saying a prayer before lunch is served. Civil liberties in this country are under historic assault, and the ACLU seizes on this?
Or consider the class action lawsuit the ACLU filed recently against the school system of Palm Beach County, claiming that its low graduation rates indicate students are being denied their right to an education. The implicit logic of such an argument is that students have a constitutional right to a diploma, regardless of whether they show up for class, complete assignments, or pass tests.
Indeed, absolving individuals from culpability is a recurring theme for the ACLU. It boasts of its litigation on behalf of prisoners and campaigns to restore felons’ voting rights. One would think that an organization ostensibly committed to protecting Americans’ civil liberties would want to see punished those who deprive others of their most basic rights. Yet the ACLU seems to have a penchant for defending the least defensible.
Last week it announced that it had filed a lawsuit on behalf of Moniem El-Ganayni, a nuclear physicist whose security clearance was revoked by the Department of Energy, which resulted in him losing his job. El-Ganayni is an activist in Pittsburgh’s Muslim community and a vocal critic of what he perceives to be the U.S. policy toward Muslim countries, especially Iraq. He works as an imam in the Pennsylvania prison system and gives fiery speeches in local mosques criticizing the FBI‘s treatment of Muslims.
He wasn’t fired from his job because he exercised his right to free speech; he was fired because he no longer has the requisite security clearance. But many Americans who have done nothing to suggest they are a threat to national security can’t get work for the same reason. A secretary being denied work with the government because her credit is blemished is a far greater outrage than revoking the security clearance of a scientist who essentially announces himself as an enemy of the government. Why doesn’t the ACLU defend the innocent rather than the suspect?
The encroachment on civil liberties since Sept. 11, 2001, is staggering. Americans now live in a society of checkpoints, searches without probable cause, unreasonable seizures at airports, the imposition of a National ID card, denials of their rights to assemble and speak — and the ACLU rightly opposes those things. But surely it could be more effective and rally more Americans to the cause if it didn’t dilute its efforts by campaigning against such things as prayer and chastity.
Every time a freedom is infringed, it is common for reporters to include the news that the action is “opposed by those concerned about civil liberties.” All Americans should be concerned about civil liberties; they are what define us as a nation. That they are, instead, ascribed to the narrow interests of a small minority reflects the damage the ACLU has done by remaining so far outside the mainstream.
At a time when Americans desperately need a champion of civil liberties, the ACLU is failing us. Too much is at stake for it to continue as the principal defender of louts, leftists, and loons.
