Other Columns by Thomas D. Segel
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Seldom does a week pass in the USA without another media report about the American Civil Liberties Union filing suit against the government. It is forever filing action against some municipality displaying what the accuser deems an unacceptable symbol or a claimed unconstitutional position. Even yesterday, the New York Times reported that the ACLU filed a federal lawsuit "seeking to strike down a clause of the USA Patriot Act that bans foreigners who endorse terrorist activity from traveling in this country."

Last week CNSNews.com and most major media outlets also reported on an ACLU intervention in a school dress code issue that ended with the Hasbrouck Heights School in New Jersey agreeing to allow a male student to wear a skirt to school.

On January 17th CNN reported "The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in the Eastern District of Michigan on behalf of several journalists, authors, scholars and organizations." The suit charges wrongdoing by... "The National Security Agency over its no-warrant wiretapping program, claiming the domestic eavesdropping is unconstitutional..."

These lawsuits are but the tip of the iceberg when viewing actions of the ACLU. In just the past two years hundreds of cases have been filed including those in the defense of people who spew obscenity in front of children, attempting to stop libraries from blocking cyber pornography, attacking the Boy Scouts, defending the position of people who refuse to show identification, trying to stop states from requiring welfare recipients to under drug testing, defending the North American Man/Boy Love Association and its right to advocate sex between men and boys and defending the right to have obscene art displayed publicly. Its many suits against the public display of Christian symbols have previously been strongly documented.

What the American public is never told is just how this organization views this country or how it manages to fund most of its litigation.

First of all, America through ACLU eyes is a country that is completely devoid of any worthy or valued positions. To understand the organization's attitude one must look back to the founders, who in 1920 created the Union. At the heart of its creation were William Z. Foster, Elizabeth Gurley and Louis F. Budenz. The threesome later became prominent leaders within the Communist Party, USA. It was these people who were responsible for building the ACLU core positions. While the heart of the organization was rooted in an atheistic socialist agenda, the publicly voiced pronouncements contained an entirely different message. ACLU leaders were waving the flag, while loudly proclaiming patriotism and the American way. At the same time there was a constant attack on the historical values of the United States.

Today the ACLU does not even list Budenz as one of its original founders. Perhaps this denial came about because he broke with the party in later years and became a militant anti-communist.

But, the organization still strongly proclaims itself to be nonprofit and nonpartisan, with more than 400,000 members and supporters. It also claims to receive no government funding. With offices in almost every state it files about 6,000 court cases a year and far more letters to municipalities, and other entities threatening litigation.

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