AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION

A.C.L.U.

Moody Political Forum

Since its conception in the 1920's, the American Civil Liberties Union has stood up for the U. S. Constitution and the protection of the common citizen from tyrany and opression. It has helped to keep presidents from becoming kings and legislators from becoming warlords. It has defended the separation of chruch and state. It has defended the rights of minorities to be different. It has defended equal opportunity under the law for women, for blacks, against gay-bashing, and now against racial profiling of foreign-born citizens. All of those things are deserving of justice and protection. But, there is another side to the issue. Could anyone have ever imagined that the ACLU could have become so over-zealous in its defense of the very principles that it stands for that it negates those same principles, minoritizes the majority opinion and challenges the principles of the United States Constitution?

Yes, like most organizations which begin with the noble intent of protecting the minority from the majority, the ACLU has become so successful, through the deference of the very majority it opposed, that it now stands in opposition to all the great principles it originally embraced!

First, you have to realize that the ACLU is made up of a bunch of well-intentioned lawyers with an agenda....normally a good agenda. Second, you have to recognize the fact that lawyers are pre-disposed to winning....regardless of the reality of the circumstance; why do you suppose that O.J. got off? And, third and last, you must be able to reason that some people are able to take a justifiable cause and use it against gullibly open-minded people to promote their own self-serving agendas. The ACLU defends people now based solely on the fact that they don't want to conform to the common morality which is inherent in the Constitution of the United States. While the Constitution does certainly gurantee minorities their right to be different, it does not at all privide that the majority will be forced to cease traditional and broadly accepted practices, including religious practices such as public prayer.

Lets talk about the law: I'm not a lawyer, but during my seven years as Environmental, Health and Safety Manager with Interstate Lead Company, battling all of the lawsuits by EPA, OSHA and ADEM gave me more practice than I wanted in the way law works. I learned under fire that the word-for-word text of a law is not always what applies, especially when new issues arise which have never been tested in court. What happens when a sentence or paragraph in an untested law is questionable? It certainly does not nullify the law, but the litigants must go back and research the documents which led to the law in the first place. In other words, they must determine the intent of the law as it was originally enacted.

Now, lets go back to the ACLU and its challenges to constitutional law. Our founding fathers made strong provision in the Constitution for separation of church and state. But, do you think that even one of the founding fathers ever fathomed that we would sacrifice public prayer in schools and public places? Not on your life! I think they would roll over in their graves if they could see the interpretations our courts have made on that issue. They wrote our Constitution with strong adherence to Christian morality. Yes, they provided that all citizens do not have to be Christian or even pray to the same God. But, it would be a real stretch of the imagination to believe that they ever intended to ban prayer from schools and public places.

What about equal rights for gays and lesbians? While I don't believe that they should be banned, punished as criminals or condemned in their pursuit of life, liberty and happiness, they certainly do not fall under the intent of the Constitution under its innate entrenchment in Christian morality. In fact, our founding fathers would probably have been a lot worse on them than we are today. Their justice was swift and harsh! And, the last thing our founding fathers would ever have done would be to grant gay and lesbian partners equal recognition under the moral practice of marriage. Certainly they would have scoffed at the notion of forcing the majority to pay for their social security and medicare benefits. Judges who rule otherwise are legislating from the bench, not interpreting the law, as their job requires.

I'm not going to get into women's rights, including abortion, or the rights of black people as they pertain to "reparations". Those issues are too complicated to take up here, though I reserve the right to pick on the ACLU about them later. But, the same principles apply to these issues as to the issues previously covered concerning the intent of our forefathers as they wrote the most sacred and God-inspired document ever to govern a civilized nation, our United States Constitution.

Let's talk about legislative intent.

America's Founding Fathers

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation

be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction

in the minds of the people that these liberties are a gift of God? That

they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my

country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep

forever".

Thomas Jefferson, 1781.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that 'except the Lord

build the House, they labor in vain that build it.' I firmly believe this;

and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in

this political building no better than the builders of Babel."

Benjamin Franklin, a statement he made at the Constitutional Convention,

on June 28, 1787.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"I have tender reliance on the mercy of the Almighty; through the merits

of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am a sinner. I look to Him for mercy; pray for

me."

Alexander Hamilton's last dying words, July 12, 1804.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"This is all the inheritance I give to my dear family. The religion of

Christ will give them one which will make them rich indeed."

Patrick Henry in Last Will and Testament, November 20, 1798.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"It is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and

revere the Supreme Government of God; to bow in humble submission to His

chastisement; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions in the

full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and

to pray, with all fervency and contrition, for the pardon of their past

offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action."

Abraham Lincoln declaring a National Day of Prayer and Fasting following

the Battle of Bull Run.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the

power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all our

political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government;

upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control

ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."

James Madison The Father of the U.S. Constitution.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge THE Providence of Almighty

God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly

implore His protection and favor."

George Washington October 3, 1789 Proclaiming a National Day of Prayer and

Thanksgiving.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"Suppose a nation in some distant region should take the Bible for their

only Law Book, and every member should regulate his conduct by the

precepts there exhibited... What a paradise would this region be!"

John Adams, 1756, this nation's second president.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"If we abide by the principles taught in the Bible, our country will go on

prospering and to prosper; but if we and our posterity neglect its

instructions and authority, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may

overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."

Daniel Webster

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

"We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.

That they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights,

that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776.

""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""

Our Laws and our Institutions must necessarily be based upon the teachings

of the Redeemer of Mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise;

and in this sense and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are

emphatically Christian."

U.S. Supreme Court, 1892 decision.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.

Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners: men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates.

Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more. Standing tall and straight, and unwavering, they pledged: "For the support of the declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books told you a lot of what happened in the Revolutionary War. We didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time and we fought our own government!

Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we shouldn't. So take a few minutes and silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: Freedom is never free! I hope you show your support by sharing this with as many people as you can. It's time we get the word out that Patriotism is NOT a sin.

~Author Unknown~
Contributed by: Harry Updegraff, Jr.

The links below will provide you with additional commentary on the above subjects. I include the ACLU's link to be fair to their cause. Just be sure that when you read their material that you apply the intent of our forefathers to the issues they present and litigate.

Dr. James Kennedy's Opposition to the ACLU

As usual, the ACLU is well-in-touch with the politically correct philosophy, but well out of touch with reality:

The ACLU's Homepage

The United States Constitution

Moody Political Forum