RE: ACLU's Criteria for Conduct in War Gone Bonkers - Lib and Con's retort in Comments

I elevated this to an article rather than respond in a comment, because it is a major isssue with our educational system.  It is obvious that we are falling flat on our face when it comes to teaching our young what American Civil Liberties is all about.  This article and comment that I am responding to are a good case in point.  A little education is in order, and I didn't want to bury it in comments.

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I knew what you meant, Lib and Con.  Your point was well taken, but your choice of straw man was mistaken.
 
I don’t see dedication to the enlightened principles embodied in our precious Bill-of-Rights as being stiff.   It is what it means to be American!  And the ACLU is protecting those principles even when you don’t like it!!
 
If we treat Sadman Hussein in and uncivilized manner, it reflects on us.  Who he is and what he has done has nothing to do with who we are and what we do. 
 
If he can be denied our cherished rights, than so can you be down the road.  That’s the thing that seems so hard for people like you and Double A to understand.  If there is anyone that is not covered by our civilized behavior, as encoded in the Bill-of-Rights, then no one is safe. 
 
If we make an exception for Sadman and go over to his side by treating him the way he would treat us, then we have eroded our convictions and our civility.  That shouldn’t be acceptable to any American, regardless of their political persuasion.
 
A little erosion here in the name of revenge (Abu Ghraib), a little erosion there in the name of expediency (Gitmo), and what do you know – here is the knock on your door in the middle of the night because of something you wrote here on VofA, or e-mailed, or said over the NSA monitored telephone, or …   Smarten up!  It’s your ass on the line! 
 
It will come around to you eventually.  Yes, today you are safe in a Neocon envelope, but you may wake up to a neocomm regime next time around, and then you are on the run.  You can’t count on being safe from power, if there is not an assurance that we are all safe from power.  The Bill-of-Rights ensures this, but it is effective only so long as we honor it.  The ACLU fights relentlessly to honor and preserve it. 
 
And it does it despite barbs and arrows from misinformed (at best) people like you and Double A.  You should wake up and see who is working in your best interest.  I can tell you it’s not those that would abridge the Constitution and Bill-of-Rights.  Its people like those that are dedicated volunteers in the ACLU!
 
Look at the history and how freedoms were lost to despots over the centuries.  We have a hugely instructional example of that which is little more than a half century old.  And damned well documented for anyone with half the brain to look at it and understand it.  If you want stiff, how does the Nazi salute and a “Heil Hitler” suit you?  That’s the opposite end of the spectrum from the principles as codified in our Bill-of-Rights.
 
What’s the matter with the ACLU defending that for you and your loved ones?  Would you rather your children were being instructed to spy on you and report you to the NSA (Nazi Security Apparatus)?  The Bill-of-Rights is the only thing standing between you and those many people that would like to see that sort of indoctrination and regimentation.
 
Wake up, for Cripes sake!