University of Virginia Library

Kevin Mannix

When You Need It...

If the government was
doing its job properly – at all
levels– then there wouldn't be
a need for the American Civil
Liberties Union. But reality
and the ideal seldom interact
less frequently than when it
comes to the government.

That's where the ACLU
comes in. As an organization
dedicated to protecting the
civil liberties of all citizens, it
tries to fill in some of the gaps
created in our constitutional
structure when the government
starts flaunting the
Constitution instead of
following it.

Although it has been in
existence for 52 years and is
still growing, people still have
some odd ideas about the
ACLU. In the South, it's
considered a liberal
organization. This might come
as a surprise to many Northern
conservatives who are members
and consider it a libertarian
organization. It all depends
upon how you view the U.S.
Constitution and the rights it
guarantees us. I prefer to think
of the Constitution as being
conservative and liberal

In any event, the ACLU can
be blamed for part of its image
problems, especially in the
South. The ACLU never is
quite as good at publicity as it
is at litigation, and only the
"hot" ACLU cases get public
attention.

Usually these are enough to
make the average citizen's
blood boil, since the ACLU is
best publicized when
protecting the rights of
Communists, Nazis, and Black
Panthers, as well as the Ku
Klux Klan.

People never seem to think
of the ACLU until they need
it. This writer never considered
joining until he discovered that
it was the ACLU which was
forcing U.Va. to co-educate via
a court suit.

The key to ACLU activity,
though, is that the vast
majority of it is behind the
scenes. The ACLU's first
concern is protecting an
individual's rights, and usually
those rights are vindicated by
administrative action resulting
from ACLU assistance and
pressure.

So that's what the ACLU is
all about. It's there when you
need it. It doesn't care who
you are or what your hassle is
so long as your rights are in
jeopardy. It will do for citizens
what the government so often
fails to do – enforce the
Constitution , purely and
simply.

Yet the ACLU is not some
sort of ethereal entity. It
consists of people who are
willing to support its activities
by joining and/or by actively
participating in its educational
and legislative projects. The
University Student Chapter's
beer party this Thursday ought
to be a gauge of current
student interest.

If the Commonwealth of
Virginia ever gets near that
ideal state where the
government seeks to protect
citizens' rights, chances are
that the ACLU will have put
itself out of a job.