The Tactics of the ACLU Should Not Be Our Tactics

Last week, when I was circulating the Ohio Healthcare Freedom Amendment petition at popular spot for that sort of activity.  It is a place with a public sidewalk and a lot businesses but not much parking, so it gets a lot of pedestrian traffic.   Then I saw two young girls with ACLU shirts on and they had clipboards like mine, so I asked them what petition they were circulating.  They said that they weren't circulating a petition, but were fundraising for the ACLU.  But I asked them if they would sign my petition.  After explaining what the amendment was, one of the girls said that she didn't know whether or not she should sign it because she didn't know if "they" would want her to.  I wondered who "they" were.  The girl, who couldn't sign because she was not an Ohio resident told her that she could sign it if she wanted to.  I guess whenever someone from the ACLU (especially women from the ACLU) hear the word "healthcare", they think it means abortion.  (But it could just be that she actually agreed with the content of the OHCFA--I don't know.)  As this girl was signing the petition, she told me that sometimes she had signed petitions before, but put a false address on it on purpose because she didn't really believe in what the petition was for and wanted the petitioner to stop bothering her.  She also implied that she did this to thwart the efforts of the circulators.  Nice.  But she told me not worry, she was not going to that to me.  I'm not very confident that she was telling the truth, but it doesn't really matter because if it is a false signature, they will just throw it out and no harm will be done.  But what an idiot!  All this goes to show the mentality of these people.  I was anticipating a confrontation and/our dialogue about the mission of the ACLU, but the two girls didn't stick around long enough for that.

A lot of people in the liberty/patriot movement have become members of the ACLU.  I actually agree with them on some issues, like their opposition to airport security screenings and the Patriot Act.  (Even a broken clock is right twice a day.)  But everyone should know that the ACLU has fought to:

1. By federal judicial fiat, make it illegal to even have a voluntary moment of silence in a public school, even when there is no mention God, Jesus, or anything about religion.
2. By federal judicial fiat, make it illegal for high school biology textbooks to have a sticker in its front insider cover which simply says that there are alternative theories of the origins of man and other species to the theory of general evolution.  Again, there was no mention of God, Jesus, creationism, or even of Intelligent Design.
3.  Take away the right of the states to have laws against abortion.
4.  By federal judicial fiat, take away the right of the states to impose term limits on its U.S. Representative and Senators.
5.  Take away the right of parents to know what their children are being exposed in the public schools
6.  By federal judicial fiat, abolish all laws against any form of pornography, even child pornography.

I must say, though, I had previously circulated the petition for the OHCFA at a local BMV because someone told me that I could.  (I learned later that the Ohio Project itself is telling people to do this.)  But as I later realized, this is really an illegal practice* and it should be stopped immediately.  There are a host reasons why this is a bad idea.  This can be used as propaganda against us and it makes us look no better than those Democrats who broke the law by offering teenagers ice cream if they would take a bus downtown to vote.  Even though you may get permission from some BMV employee, that doesn't change the fact that it is illegal.  The employees at the BMV could get in trouble for it.  The front window clearly says "no solicitation". And its just plain wrong to break the law.  We should all want this victory to be completely above board.  Let's not be like the ACLU and their "win at all costs" mentality.

*But note that at most BMV locations (that I have seen) there are adjacent businesses.  If you were to get permission from such a business you could circulate the petition on their property as long as you don't go cross over into the part which belongs to the BMV.  And maybe there are some BMVs where the sidewalk in front of it is public (but I don't know of any) and so in that case it might also be OK.  

Steve Driehaus Voted for Taxpayer Funded Abortion

 http://www.citizenlink.com/2010/10/aclu-joins-free-speech-challenge-in-ohio-%E2%80%93-in-support-of-pro-life-group/

Liberal Steve Driehaus still claims to be pro-life despite voting for Obama’s healthcare bill.  Susan B. Anthony’s List, the pro-life action group known for its controversial interpretation of some of Susan B. Anthony’s statements regarding abortion, ordinarily only gets involved in congressional races involving women.  But this year they have decided to expand their list to include endorsements of opponents of candidates who claim to be pro-life, but who voted for Obama’s healthcare bill.  Thus, they are fighting for their right to display the above negative billboard against Driehaus, who is running against Steve Chabot. 

But who has come to the rescue of SBA List?  Was it the National Right to Life? No.  Was it the Alliance Defense Fund? No.  Was it the American Center for Law and Justice?  No.  It was the American Civil Liberties Union.  Yes, that’s right, the ACLU.  Why is the ACLU doing this?  Aren’t they pro-abortion?  Yes, of course they are.  But the ACLU seems to be against every law there is.  So it actually makes perfect sense.  You see Driehaus is claiming that the SBA List is violating a certain Ohio election law.  The ACLU wants this law to be judicially abolished.  That’s what they like to do.  They like to see laws struck down at the bench.  (You can read quotes from their spokeswoman by clicking the link below the billboard picture.)  In this case they may be right (though the Ohio Constitution makes libel an exception to free speech), but I can imagine that some well-meaning conservatives might not like what this decision means in terms of their candidates not being protected from vicious attack ads.  Well, the case is far from over, the SBA List may win or the members of its front office may be put in jail. 

Of course, SBA List has totally missed the boat here.  Regardless of whether or not abortions will funded by taxpayers through Obamacare, which is a matter of debate, there is another bill which Steve Driehaus voted for which clearly appropriates funds which are explicitly allowed to be used for the funding of abortions in cases of rape and incest as well as substantial indirect abortion funding.  Driehaus also voted against an amendment to this bill which would have at least prevented Planned Parenthood (but not other abortion providers) from getting any of the money.  I am talking about a Department of Health and Human Services Appropriations Bill.   But SBA List is only defending itself on the basis that Steve Driehaus’ vote on Obamacare was a vote for taxpayer funded abortions.  Why?  The simple answer is that they are endorsing Driehaus’ opponent, Steve Chabot, who also has voted for Planned Parenthood funding through DHHS appropriations bills.  (That doesn’t make anyone want to donate to your organization if you point out that two major party candidates running against each other are both hypocrites.)  In fact, almost all congressmen have voted for this garbage.  The only candidates they could endorse would be Ron Paul (even he abstained from the voting last time rather than voting “no”), some freshmen Republicans, those who have never held a congressional seat and maybe one or two others.  If you only endorse a handful of candidates, that just does not generate much interest, even though it’s the right thing to do.  SBA List also only endorses “viable” candidates.

But since the billboard is so obviously true, Driehaus has no case (even if Ohio election law is constitutional) and should shut up and bow out of the race so that we can have a debate between Chabot and Libertarian candidate Jim Berns.  Though I will not cast a vote for him either because he also is not pro-life (but at least HE doesn’t lie about it), at least people might learn something from such a debate.