The ACLU's latest mischief in its war on American values

WorldNetDaily ^ | October 6, 2005 | Alan Sears

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According to their own literature, the American Civil Liberties Union's job "is to conserve America's original civic values – the Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Preserving our values is a very admirable goal. But in spite of their lofty rhetoric, the ACLU is not such a protector of America's values.

To the contrary, no organization, together with its allies, has consistently done more harm to our traditions and values. Just in the past few weeks, the ACLU has again proven their contempt for American values in several arenas.

In September, the ACLU filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging the Supreme Court to allow a ban on military recruiters at university campuses. The ACLU's opposition to military readiness is long and well known, dating from their founder Roger Baldwin's refusal to report for an examination for Selective Service in World War I. The current case involves the Solomon Amendment, a 1994 statute that allows the blocking of federal funds to campuses that deny military recruiters "equal access."

Several law schools have barred recruiters on the claim that the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy – a policy forced on the military by the Clinton administration and upheld by three federal circuits against homosexual demands – violates the schools' guidelines on "nondiscrimination." But these same schools hypocritically insist on receiving generous funding from the same federal government whose policies to preserve our national defense they are opposing.

In one of their more convoluted arguments, the ACLU asserts that universities should be allowed to discriminate against the United States military in order to protect academic "anti-discrimination" policies. Matt Coles, the ACLU's Lesbian and Gay Rights Project director, said, "Universities should be commended for holding the line against discrimination." Meanwhile, Coles was figuratively standing in the schoolhouse door barring entry to some of our most valued citizens and hindering the effective recruitment of students for our nation's protection.

Thankfully, Harvard University voluntarily backed down from this form of segregation, allowing military recruiters to return. We can only hope that other schools follow this tolerant and patriotic policy. But the ACLU is doing all it can to undermine our national values, even in a time of war.

In another startling case, the ACLU – as it does more often than not – is opposing the democratic process and traditional values in Florida. A group of concerned Floridians is gathering signatures to bring a constitutional amendment protecting marriage before the state's voters. Not surprisingly, the ACLU opposes this constitutionally valid effort to keep marriage from being tampered with by politicians, activist judges, and other groups – well, like the ACLU.

The ACLU, as it has in efforts from Alaska to Georgia, repeatedly since 1995, is opposing the amendment process established by the framers of the state constitution and instead wants activist judges to invent and alter traditions, laws, and fabricate "new rights." And since they oppose the amendment process, ACLU attorneys are trying to prevent Florida voters from having any say in the matter.

The ACLU filed a brief before the Florida Supreme Court to derail the marriage protection amendment before it can even get to the ballot. Their highly technical claim is that the initiative violates a "single subject rule" in the Florida constitution – a common tactic of the ACLU and its allies that has failed time and time again. Earlier this year, a unanimous decision from the Louisiana Supreme Court upheld that state's amendment against the claim that it violated a "single subject" rule. No, the ACLU's true basis for opposition is obvious:

"[The initiative] blocks same-sex couples from civil unions and threatens domestic partner registries," said Howard Simon, executive director of the ACLU of Florida. The ACLU goes further on their website, stating, "The ACLU works for full legal recognition of LGBT relationships through domestic partnerships, civil unions, and, ultimately, marriage." The ACLU will fight for full-fledged same-sex "marriage" regardless of the laws, the constitutions, or the voters' decisions or values.

When the ACLU is not attacking the military or marriage, they are working on manipulating our children's values and behavior. Last month, they launched "Not in My State," a nationwide effort to eliminate what they call "dangerous" abstinence-only education in schools.

Yes, they really said that.

The same ACLU that adamantly opposes any government regulation of the most dreadful and violent forms of obscenity, opposes laws designed to protect children from exposure to such obscenity, and argues there is "no harm" from such material, has launched an elaborate website for their new project, offering a pre-written op-ed for your local newspaper, detailed talking points, and an area of "cool stuff" including buttons, postcards, and bumper stickers.

Louise Melling, director of the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, further explained the project in a recent article. Her words would be laughable if they weren't so alarming:

Today, in an effort to keep dangerous abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula from harming young people, ACLU affiliates across the country have launched a letter-writing campaign asking schools and state health departments to reject these unsafe programs and replace them with proven effective, medically accurate, age-appropriate sexuality education.

The ACLU's world is one in which abstinence is "dangerous," marriage is meaningless, and officials with publicly supported schools have a right to demand and take federal funds on one hand while telling the people who pay the taxes that fund their schools to take a hike.

There are many descriptions for this inverted set of values, but "American" isn't one of them. By any standard, this is all far removed from America's "original civic values."

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Alan Sears, a former federal prosecutor in the Reagan administration, is president and CEO of the Alliance Defense Fund, America's largest legal alliance defending religious liberty through strategy, training, funding and litigation. He is co-author with Craig Osten of the new book "The ACLU vs. America: Exposing the Agenda to Redefine Moral Values."

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/