Show your patriotism today by supporting the Bill of Rights and the ACLU

In addition to celebrating the 231st birthday of the United States of America with cook-outs, fireworks, parades and other things today, I suggest something that really celebrates what this country stands for and do something to actually strengthen those freedoms we take for granted: join the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan.

I could not agree more with the ACLU’s Independence Day message, and they ring much more true that empty rhetoric and waving a piece of cloth made in the largest Communist country in the world with slave wages: “True American patriotism is more than the love of one's country; it is the abiding respect for our country's values of freedom, fairness and equality. It is the willingness to stand up to a government that abuses its power and treats the Constitution as if it were a meaningless scrap of paper. Freedom is only as strong as the people who are willing to stand up for it. Will you stand up?”

Those values of freedom, fairness and equality are not just liberal or conservative values, they are American values that made men and women risk everything for 231 years ago. The mission of the ACLU of Michigan – and in general - is to enforce the Bill of Rights and advance its principles.

I am a member of the ACLU of Michigan, and although I don’t always agree with everything they do – who agrees with everything all of the time – I believe in and respect what they do and stand for. If the government tried to stop a racist hatemonger like Ann Coulter from speaking the ACLU would be the first to defend her. They even defended Rush Blowhard in his doctor shopping case for prescription drugs.

The ACLU stands up for freedom 365 days a year, not just on July 4. From fighting to restore due process, stopping warrant less wiretapping, ending profiling based on race or ethnicity and much more, the ACLU has been a force for democracy since 1920.

The ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, Crystal Eastman, Albert DeSilver and others in 1920. It’s nonprofit and nonpartisan and it has grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 members and supporters. The ACLU handles nearly 6,000 court cases annually from offices in almost every state.

Show your patriotism and join today.