Why I’m not a member of the ACLU (and why you shouldn’t be either)

The ACLU does a lot of good stuff. The southern California chapter deserves a lot of credit for taking on tough issues, like Tasers. But the national organization consistently sides with corporations against human beings. They were longtime defenders of the tobacco companies’s right to addict people, even as they were taking large amounts of money from the industry. More recently, they sided with Citizens United against the FEC, a case that resulted in the overthrow of all campaign finance restrictions on corporations:

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission … Section 203 of the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act of 2002 prohibits unions and corporations (both for-profit and non-profit) from engaging in “electioneering communications.” The legislative definition of an “electioneering communication” was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2003 and then substantially narrowed by the Supreme Court in 2007. In scheduling this case for reargument, the Court specifically requested briefs on whether section 203 should now be struck down as facially unconstitutional. The ACLU has consistently taken the position that section 203 is facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment because it permits the suppression of core political speech, and our amicus brief takes that position again.

Harvey Wasserman and Bob Fitzrakis, SC:

The Supreme Court’s atrocious Citizen’s United green light for unlimited corporate campaign spending had a willing accomplice — the American Civil Liberties Union.

Why?

As long-time supporters, we are horrified by the ACLU’s betrayal of political reality and plain common sense.

Standing proudly with the victorious corporate hacks on the steps of the SCOTUS was none other than the legendary First Amendment crusader Floyd Abrams.

Keith Olberman has called him a “Quisling” for aiding and abetting this catastrophic confirmation of corporate “personhood.”…

It has been reported that the ACLU Board is now considering endorsing limits on campaign spending. Abrams has been reported as arguing that “The worst thing you could do – the absolutely worst thing you could do – is transform a civil liberties organization into a liberal political organization.”

But this decision has transformed the ACLU into a conservative political organization, working to arm the ultimate enemies of democracy with unlimited monetary and political power.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is a far more worthy organization to receive your contributions than the ACLU.