Has the once-renowned ACLU devolved into a mere anti-Trump protest organization desperate to hang onto its charitable status? According to Politico, the American Civil Liberties Union raised $93 million from online donors since the election of President Donald Trump, up nearly 1700% from the previous year.
The organization apparently plans to become the left’s version of the NRA and a nexus for Trump resistance. It is gearing up to the 2018 midterm elections and is set to spend close to $25 million on various ballot initiatives to undermine the legislative support for Trump.
ACLU Support
ACLU captured the public’s attention and gained massive donor support when it came out strongly against Trump’s travel ban last year. Their warped reading of the constitution is an omen of the far-left transformation that has taken place in the organization. What should have been a straight-forward executive order solidly within the purview of the presidency became one of the most controversial presidential acts in modern American history.
Could a full ACLU war chest topple the Republican majority and neuter the president? It is certainly a threat that the Republican Party should take seriously. However, the hard-left turn of the Democratic party and various organizations such as the ACLU is likely to antagonize a large portion of the blue-leaning voters. Recently, the prominent Democrat Keith Ellison endorsed the communist group Antifa. Rustbelt Reagan Democrats, who are true American patriots, will be turned off by radical leftism and identity politics.
Paradoxically, the injection of money into the hard line against Trump could, therefore, backfire and might instead be a sign of the structural problems that the left is facing. There is no moderate center-left to counteract Trump’s momentum, and so money is instead flowing to radicals who cannot win the hearts and minds of most voters.
Structural Issues
However, conservatives and libertarians face a structural problem of their own. For some reason, the right has allowed the left to take majority control over educational institutions, movies and television, news and political activism. It seems that conservatives are struggling to defend themselves from the onslaught of the left. The kind of monetary support that the ACLU received in the last twelve months is unheard of on the right.
Even with all the media bias, a leftist Hollywood, and the indoctrination by leftist professors, the right still manages to hold onto a majority – barely. However, with changing demographics, the left could win, even with bad and easily refutable ideas, because the right refuses to defend itself – or support the defenders of freedom with the same vigor as the left.
Eternal Vigilance
In the early 19th century, people were acutely aware of the necessity of the populace to unite against the forces of tyranny. One quote, often falsely attributed to Thomas Jefferson, captures this sentiment better than most: “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”
Currently, there is little will to defend the republic from the encroaching jungle. It is not too late to save America, but history has shown that it is those that show the strongest will to live and survive that ultimately prevail. Even though the left loses on facts and arguments, the odds will be in their favor if we refuse to stand up to them.
