There are no adults left at the ACLU. The once proud American Civil Liberties Union, founded a century ago to defend to the death the right to free speech, including those of Nazis, communists, the Nation of Islam, the Ku Klux Klan, civil rights activists, and unionists, has become a shadow of its former self.
The ACLU no longer stands behind the very principle that sets America apart from every civilization in history, the First Amendment. It now seeks to destroy it – and corrupt it along the way.
On Wednesday, the organization took to shilling its merchandise on social media by calling on its followers – no doubt teenagers, given its predilection towards anarchy these days – to say the word “fuck.” You could cut yourself on that edge.
While there is nothing wrong at all with selling merchandise – I mean, I do it, as does anyone else – there is something ironic about commodifying the anger of today’s woke youth to make a profit from a few ugly t-shirts. And to punctuate that point, the ACLU added an image description as a follow-up to describe the photo: “person with curly hair looks into camera wearing off white t-shirt that reads ‘FUCK school. softball. cheer. everything.’”
After all, the visually impaired ought to be able to express themselves through graphic tees they can’t personally see, too.
Crucially, the ACLU’s claim to defend First Amendment rights is incongruous with its actions in recent years. As described by the New York Times, the ACLU, which was “once a bastion of free speech,” now “faces an identity crisis.”
The group is experiencing an internal split between its support for civil liberties in America and progressive causes, which are inherently illiberal and demand the censorship of those who exist outside the progressive paradigm.
A law professor argued that the free speech rights of the far right were not worthy of defense by the A.C.L.U. and that Black people experienced offensive speech far more viscerally than white allies. In the hallway outside, an A.C.L.U. official argued it was perfectly legitimate for his lawyers to decline to defend hate speech.
The definition of “hate speech” transcends calls to violence and now includes everything from criticism of mass immigration, policing, woke culture, and transgenderism.
Merely criticizing the inclusion of trans athletes in the Olympics is, for many, a form of “violence” that serves to further oppress a persecuted group that has by all accounts attained more privilege than any other member of society.
And indeed, suppression of such “violence” has become the de facto mission statement of the ACLU, which has in recent years made waves by throwing its weight behind every effort to disempower former President Donald Trump during his term in office through lawfare.
The New York Times notes:
One hears markedly less from the A.C.L.U. about free speech nowadays. Its annual reports from 2017 to 2019 highlight its role as a leader in the resistance against President Donald J. Trump. But the words “First Amendment” or “free speech” cannot be found. Nor do those reports mention colleges and universities, where the most volatile speech battles often play out.
Since Mr. Trump’s election, the A.C.L.U. budget has nearly tripled to more than $300 million as its corps of lawyers doubled. The same number of lawyers — four — specialize in free speech as a decade ago.
Some A.C.L.U. lawyers and staff members argue that the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and the press — as well as freedom of religion, assembly and petitioning the government — is more often a tool of the powerful than the oppressed.
To reinforce the organization’s new mission statement, the ACLU even has a Racial Justice Program to drive progressive ideology through its ranks of lawyers and erstwhile free speech advocates.
With Trump out of office, the organization now finds itself retreating even farther from its fight for the First Amendment and has, for all intents and purposes, become the legal face of progressive causes in the United States.
In Florida, the ACLU filed suit against the state over the passage of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new election bill that seeks to limit contributions to political committees backing ballot initiatives. The bill effectively prevents Big Tech lobbyists, wealthy activists, and dark money activist organizations from dominating the polls with initiatives that do not benefit Floridians.
In South Carolina, the ACLU sued Republican Gov. Henry McMaster over an executive order requiring state agencies to expedite employees’ return to work. Working on the side of triple maskers and people who get tattoos of their vaccination cards, the ACLU wants the state to remain closed and in a non-functioning state.
In Arkansas, the ACLU sued the state for passing a law that prohibits state funds or insurance agencies from funding the euphemistically termed “gender-affirming healthcare” for children. The law also prohibits doctors and healthcare professionals from referring children for gender reassignment surgery – many of whom, now known as “detransitioners”, have provided vast testimony calling on other young people to think about making such permanent decisions about their bodies. The ACLU is also leading the charge against similar laws in Iowa, West Virginia, and Alabama.
Indeed, the causes ACLU now takes up have little to nothing to do with the First Amendment and only revolve around making new inroads for the progressive movement in the reshaping of American culture into some sort of wildlife habitat for the perennially woke – all driven by the youth who now fill its ranks.