My Response to UTs "Young Conservatives" ACLU Nativity

[usregimechange]

12/01/2006

Tony McDonald
Young Conservatives of Texas
University of Texas at Austin Chapter


Mr. McDonald:

In 1976 Roger Baldwin (ACLU's founder) said he would still choose communism over fascism but added the following statement: "I hope to God I would never be faced with that." He said that if ACLU staff still considered communists friends of democracy (after the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939) that he was "sorry for their illusion and sorry to loose them." Roger denounced the use of violence, repression, and dictatorships as a means of achieving greater economic and social equality. In an interview with Peggy Lamson in 1976 he faulted the communists for not being "friends of democracy."

The ACLU did fire board members for supporting communism; they did so with Roger's blessing. The reason for firing Elizabeth Flynn was because any ACLU Board member who supported authoritarian regimes in other countries could not be trusted to support civil liberties in America. Civil liberties, you realize, did not thrive under communism and for this reason the ACLU represents (on the social dimension) nearly the precise opposite of communism.

Even if Roger hadn't changed his mind about communism it would still not follow that the current ACLU is communist. Some of our nation's founders believed in slavery and had slaves. That fact does not make the United States a supporter of slavery today.

There are other ways of expressing discontent with the ACLU than resorting to red baiting. As for Roger you can certainly fault him for denouncing communism belatedly, but the organization he founded espouses the liberties (like them or not) that would have been and were impossible under soviet communism.

Thank you for your attention,


Seth Jackson


Sent to: [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail], [e-mail]

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. I am encouraging DUers to contact the Alliance Defense Fund

and report this attack on Christmas by these kids at UT.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2995410&mesg_id=2996154

[usregimechange]

2. I think attacking Christmas is way over the top.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. Me too

So we need to put a stop to it.