Reading your ACLU Letter
If we cannot truly turn to the ACLU for help, then where do we turn to at this time? What legal organizations are there if any that will truly assist people in need?
In response to ACLU Encourages Police State: By arguing against a right of effective self-defense, and by encouraging people to rely on the police for their protection, the ACLU ensures that voters will clamor for a police state.
- Electronic Frontier Foundation
- “Electronic Frontier Foundation is a nonprofit group working to protect your digital rights.”
- Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
- The CBLDF is “dedicated to the preservation of First Amendment rights for members of the comics community.”
- National Rifle Association Civil Rights Defense Fund
- The NRA Civil Rights Defense Fund “provides legal and financial assistance to selected individuals and organizations defending their right to keep and bear arms.”
- National Motorists Association
- “The National Motorists Association is a membership organization devoted to representing and protecting the rights and interests of North American motorists. Member services include assistance with traffic tickets, information on traffic laws, plus guidance and aid for local and state legislative projects.”
- Drug Policy Alliance
- A drug policy research institute, they are reprinting some drug policy classics and publishing important new works. There is a lot of useful news here, and information on seminars and conferences. This is one of the two major drug policy reform sites on the Internet.
- Families Against Mandatory Minimums
- “Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1991 in response to the excessive penalties triggered by mandatory minimum sentencing policies. FAMM promotes rational sentencing policies that give judges discretion to distinguish between defendants and sentence them according to their culpability. FAMM’s 19,000 members include prisoners and their families, attorneys, judges, criminal justice experts and concerned citizens.”
- Drug Reform Coordination Network
- Over the years I’ve watched DRCNet grow into an incredibly useful resource in the field of drug law reform. “The world’s leading drug policy newsletter... raising awareness of the consequences of drug prohibition… DRCNet supports rational policies consistent with the principles of peace, justice, fr eedom, compassion and truth. Each of these has been compromised in the name of the Drug War.”
I’ve found that there are many focused organizations available; the EFF for on-line free speech assistance, the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for cartoon free speech assistance, the NRA for self-defense issues, the National Motorists Association for privacy rights when it comes to vehicles.
These organizations have a tighter focus and, while lesser-known (except the NRA) also do very good work in support of civil liberties. If you are looking for places to send money, they can definitely use it. I’m sure that there are many more legal defense organizations with similarly-tight focuses.
Don’t overlook advocacy organizations either. Families Against Mandatory Minimums, the Drug Policy Foundation, and the Drug Reform Coordination Network are all examples of organizations that, while they don’t necessarily have legal defense funds, do advocate in favor of civil liberties.
And of course, one important alternative is to make sure you let the ACLU know if you agree that they do mostly good work in the short term but are ensuring a police state in the long term.