The Downward Spiral of the ACLU

The ACLU, which is short for the American Civil Liberties Union has been around a long time. The organization was founded in 1920 by a small group of people that were about the United States government and the use of the Bill of Rights. The actual intent of the organization was to defend the constitutional rights of individuals of the United States despite the person's race, creed, or religion.

The main goal of the ACLU was to defend the rights of all American citizens, as outlined by the 27^th amendment of the Constitution. However, if you look at what groups and people the ACLU may defend in the 21^st century, you may wonder how they have fallen away from their original duties. Currently the ACLU has stood behind people that are not actual citizens of the United States, such as illegal immigrants, and therefore seem to have lost their focus on their true duties as the ACLU.

Recently the ACLU teamed up with the AFL-CIO to actually sue the Department of Homeland Security from cracking down on illegal-alien workers in the United States. I am sure that two of the organizations founders, Roger Baldwin and Crystal Eastman, are spinning in their graves over such cases.

I cannot say for sure whether Mr. Baldwin nor Ms. Eastman would agree or disagree with the current actions of the ACLU if they were still alive, but I would like to think they would not agree with it. Case in point, in 1940 Mr. Baldwin decided he did not agree with the close relationship the ACLU had with the Communist party and therefore removed the communist members from the board.

So how did the ACLU grow to become such a liberalized organization that defends those they were not originally set out to defend, such as illegals? Perhaps it began to slowly happen once Mr. Baldwin passed away in 1991, but it is very hard to say for sure. The founders of the organization, such as Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Eastman did not initially form the organization for this purpose, but for the purpose of protecting the rights of U.S citizens. Ms. Eastman was actually a woman's suffrage activist in 1912 and actually had a hand in getting the women's suffrage amendment passed in 1921. Mr. Baldwin supported draft resistors during World War I and was actually thrown in prison in 1918 for resisting the draft himself.

Since the beginning of the ACLU in 1920, the organization went on to not only help women and draft resistors but also those with various religious affiliations such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Christians, and even Pagans. They have offered help to various cultures and backgrounds such as whites, blacks, Hispanics, and Arabs. They never looked at a case with prejudice and always helped the citizens of the United States that needed help protecting their civil rights. So how and why did they take such a sharp turn and begin defending those that are in our country illegally, and have therefore already broken our laws as a country?

This seems like such an easy question to answer, yet I could not find one. So, this should be the million dollar question of the 21^st century. Perhaps one day it will be answered. And then the ACLU will realize how far they have strayed from their original cause and it will prompt them to return to their roots as an organization fighting for the citizens of the United States of America.