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Our support for the ACLU may be controversial we hope that it will act as a stimulus and an
opportunity for our members to express their opinions. American Panthers encourages its members to
participate in the policy and strategy development processes and I believe that this should be seen
as a major advantage to membership in our organization.
Because of the Bush Administration’s arrogant disregard for our freedoms it is, in my opinion, more
important than it ever was to join and support the American Civil Liberties Union. We must do what we can
to fight against secret and unlawful detentions, violations of due process, repression of dissent and freedom
of speech, intrusive government watch lists, intimidation of the press, and use of the “war on terror” as
justification for these policies.
On the other hand, I do not believe that we should be in favor of allowing criminals to be set free based on
legal technicalities. On this issue, we should be concerned with the rights of victims and potential victims.
If an innocent person is arrested and released on a technicality (such as failure to be properly Mirandized)
then he may have certain rights of redress for the harm that has been done to him. If a guilty person is
arrested and released for the same reason, he should have the same rights. In the case of a guilty person,
however, he gets additional compensation in the form of a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free card. To me, this is highly
discriminatory and unbalanced. Any arrested person, whether innocent or guilty (we don’t know which at the
time of the arrest), should be entitled to the same redress if his civil rights are violated. This redress
must not include immunity to any criminal charges.
Therefore, I believe that we should support the ACLU but this support should not mean that we support them
on all issues.
LHS
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