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Worst Instincts: Cowardice, Conformity, and the ACLU

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I first joined the ACLU in 1960 as a college student and have been a member 90% of the time since then. Nevertheless, the organization has wandered from its principled early devotion to freedom of expression, due process and the rights of individuals.

To some extent the group has been taken over by its clients: feminists, racial interests, gays, pornographers and religion haters. The people who used to be coming to us for help and now running the show, and mostly looking after people just like themselves to the exclusion of bona fide enduring First Amendment principles. I've about had enough and am now supporting groups like FIRE and EEF, who are in many respects like the ACLU used to be.

Kaminer's book details the groupthink mentality that has taken hold of our major civil liberties lobby. "Human" rights, i.e., the rights of collectives such as ethnic minorities against individual critics and dissenters, have taken precedent and the very people the ACLU should be defending are getting hounded out of the group. There's been a coup at the ACLU, with the rights of individual critics and nonconformist getting the short end of the stick, sometimes even expelled.

Ms. Kaminer is to be congratulated for her courage in writing this book. I loved the ACLU of the 60's and 70's, began to feel uncomfortable in the 80's and 90's, and am totally out of place today. There are many more like me, I'm sure.

Wendy Kaminer was a member of the board of the ACLU of Massachusetts from the early 1990s to 2009. She was a national board member of the ACLU from 1999 to 2006. In this book she "focuses on the story, or cautionary tale, of what I regard a a dramatic ethical decline at the ACLU, involving the institutionalization of deceit and abandonment of core civil-liberties principles by staff and leadership--enabled by the use of social pressure to silence dissent." Kaminer shows how the ACLU has changed from an organization whose primary mission was defending civil rights to one that promotes a political agenda. Kaminer laments what happens when "loyalty to the institution prevails over loyalty to the institution's ideals." In well-documented detail Kaminer shows how the ACLU, to raise funding and promote its political goals, accepted money under the same circumstances that it criticized others for doing so, instituted gag rules on its own members, disseminated misinformation and lies, and tried to discredit those who disagreed with leadership. Kaminer also examines cases in which the ACLU defended liberals but did not defend conservatives even though the basic principles at stake were the same. (Note that Kaminer is NOT a conservative and the book is published by a liberal press.) Using her experiences with ACLU as an example, Kaminer shows how all social organizations or groups face the conflict of supporting its leaders even when those leaders take them down wrong paths. While reading this book, it is easy to apply these lessons to other groups (political and social) who circle the wagons in the face of criticism, forget or ignore basic principles of honesty and respect, engage in ad hominem attacks, and justify any means because its goals are deemed so critical. This is an excellent book.

Wendy Kaminer's book strikes me more as a defense of the ACLU and its principles rather than an attack. Her argument is with those who appear to have taken over the physical structure without understanding the critical importance of the foundation. It is a well-argued book and one where she appears to present thoughtfully both sides of the issues in question, even though the other side appear at best arguments of expediency rather than principle.

This is a book well worth reading, if a little short. Worst Instincts basically had two parts: an inside account of the decline of the ACLU under the leadership of Anthony Romero, its executive director, and a critique of left-wing attacks on free speech, particularly on college campuses. Both parts were well worth reading. I actually liked the second part better. Kaminer is an eloquent champion of liberty. I advise the reader to pick up her other books, such as Defending Liberty.

This book reflects the author's courage and insight. She exposes alarming cowardice with the ACLU. She also gives broader insight into the dangers of conformity.

The book cover is a work of art. It shows ACLU members crowding into the ACLU manger to worship the prince of PC. (Actually, it shows sheep milling around). In general, the book reveals how organizations deal with malcontents. Now, the ACLU is the putative defender of malcontents. Not so fast. Regretfully, good things happen to bad people and the ACLU acts like any other organization to preserve self interest for the favored few, i.e. the leaders. Leaders,of course,are more important than principles or the little folk. I think we all learned that during the last 8 years. What's more important than appearances? Morals, principles? LOL!!!