The Chaff that Chafes

If you ever want to really separate the wheat from the chaff in a mixed crowd, just put together four little letters and say 'em out loud: "ACLU." This is best done after a drink or two when everyone's a tad less inhibited, a little less polite. Inevitably, at the mention of those four letters some of the chaff will chafe (for best results, try to keep 'em in the order shown--no inversions, like "UCLA" or such). A lively discussion will likely ensue.

I really don't know what it is about the American Civil Liberties Union that gets folks so upset, some to the point of going off the deep end. But I think it illustrates the deep divide between the citizenry of this country. I mean, what the hell's wrong with an organization founded to defend every American citizen's freedoms as delineated in our Constitution's Bill of Rights?

In the past six months or so, my wife and I attended a couple of aniti-war rallies. The attendence at those demonstrations was of such sparseness police driving by failed to see a "crowd." (I guess peace isn't much of a big deal in a neocon nation of perpetual war for perpetual profit.)

But at each of those demonstrations about half a block away stood a couple of men dressed in black with cameras sporting these huge zoom lenses. They were shadowing our little get together and instead of feeling uneasy at being observed, I was actually quite comforted. See, both of these men were sporting vests with the large letters "ACLU" across front and back. If there was to be any misadventure those days, it was going to be documented--by the American Civil Liberties Union.

So who are the folks who most oppose this organization that defends our liberty? At the risk of stereotyping here, I'd say the more conservative the person, the greater their opposition.

In yesterday's Molly Ivins column, she mentioned the reaction of the Bush administration in the headless chicken days of post 9/11. The administration sicced Attorney General Ashcroft's FBI on the ACLU! As Molly reiterated, the ACLU "does not advocate violence, terrorism or any other damn thing except the Bill of Rights. Since when is that extremist?" I ponder the same thing.

Maybe the administration goes after the ACLU because the White House is so loaded with slime mold extremists whose "work" they need to do seems to also entail the gutting of our rights at every opportunity. Neocons have an extreme agenda to implement. They don't know how much time they have to implement it. It may be possible many Americans, now in some state of Kansanesque transcendence, may awaken before they're done. And those folks will be very pissed.

In the meantime, give thanks there's still a small number of diligent defenders at ACLU following our government around, challenging their attacks on our freedoms and exposing the soft underbellies of extremist reformers to sunlight.