I'm Thinking of Applying for an Internship with my Local ACLU Chapter

[LAGC]

I figure its time to invest my efforts where my money is and be more active volunteering for groups I agree with and support financially. They say they want me to send them my resume, a writing sample, and three references for their legal staff to review, and they will be in touch from there.

Its been years since I've been in college, and I don't have any of my writing samples saved from back then (mostly left-wing treatises on economics for my English 101 class, if I recall) so I was thinking of writing something new and original for them to review. I'm thinking of writing a short essay on "Why the ACLU Should Drop All Pretenses and Support ALL of the Bill of Rights."

Of course, I'm speaking particularly of the Second Amendment, and the national ACLU's belligerent stance towards it, interpreting it as a "collective right" not an "individual right" of the people to keep and bear arms. I just figure that if I really want to see the ACLU change its pathetic stance, the best way to make it happen is to work from within to influence policy and change people's minds on the matter. A couple state chapters of the ACLU have already come around on this issue, we just need to see more chapters follow suit to put enough pressure on the national ACLU organization to take heed.

Here's some of the talking points I'm thinking about presenting:

- The "people" as referred to in the First and Fourth Amendment clearly refers to individual rights, why should the Second Amendment be seen as any different?

- If the ACLU did its job and defended the Second Amendment as vigorously as it does the First, and Fourth and Fifth Amendments, we wouldn't even need the NRA, which often does a disservice to the Constitution by supporting candidates that are often hostile towards the rest of the Bill of Rights, based solely on their Second Amendment stance alone.

- Civilian gun ownership is a democratic check and balance to unbridled military power, and helps prevent (or at least delay) statist moves to out-right fascism -- they can't get away with taking away all of our rights all at once, or else the people would rise up. Instead, they've had to "boil the frog" slowly, taking away our rights only a little at a time, as political conditions allow, such as passage of the PATRIOT Act, and other fascist-lite measures.

Can you guys think of any other good talking points I should include in my essay? I want to make my stance on the issue clear to them upfront, just so they know where I stand, even if it risks possibly being screened out of service due to them not liking what I write. What an internship basically consists of is fielding everyday letters and requests for legal assistance from various parties who feel their Constitutional rights are being infringed upon. They get a lot of mail from jails/prisons, but also groups and individuals on the outside that detail freedom of speech/religion violations, and other general curtailments of civil liberties in general. I'd really like to help out, and make my voice heard at the same time. So any suggestions any of you may have toward this goal would be greatly appreciated.

[Euromutt]

1. Well, my own hobby horse...

...and my primary reason for supporting the RKBA is that the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled on multiple occasions that government bears no responsibility for the protection of individual citizens. Now, I'm a political science major, and one of the first things you learn is that authority is the legitimate exercise of power, and what makes it legitimate is that it's coupled to responsibility. So if the government will not accept the responsibility to protect individual citizens, it thereby abdicates the authority to deprive them of the means to protect themselves. And the most effective means of self-protection are firearms.

I don't know whether that's of any use to you, but I consider it an important point in the pro-RKBA argument.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. Well reasoned. N/T

[jeepnstein]

4. Preach On!!!

[Gumbo]

2. I guess it depends on your local chapter

or who gets a hold of your material first. If it's a gun grabber, they might just throw your shit in the trash, but as far as offending any core ACLU ideas by writing about firearms, I doubt it. They're so all over the map that I think that's impossible.

[cognoscere]

5. Why don't you just use what you posted here? n/t

[LAGC]

6. I may just.

I just wanted to expand on those basic talking points and turn it into a short essay, figured I'd throw in some other pro-individual rights RTKABA material while I was at it, just to give it some substance. This thread has already got me thinking though, so I'm going to start making some notes...

[Katya Mullethov]

8. ATF and due process

Cavalry Arms is but one example , there are others .

[RadicalGeek]

7. A bit late to the debate

For one, I like the idea on the surface. I'm not a member of the ACLU, but I see myself as sympathetic to their views.

But your last talking point is evidence of the kind of paranoid, anti-government thinking that I see as prevalent among the 2nd Amendment Absolutists, my term for the US Gun Lobby. Of course, many people see the ACLU as a 1st Amendment absolutist group.

If you get an interview, expect to be grilled on that point.

Keep us posted though

[PavePusher]

10. Ummm... are you claiming...

that opposing the Patriot Act is "paranoid, anti-government thinking"? Please clarify, if I'm reading that wrong. In my opinion, anyone who supports that unConstitutional piece of slag deserves to be horsewhipped into a coma.

[RadicalGeek]

12. No

But it seems to me that the Gun Lobby utilizes a lot of thinking that's basically the militia movments rhetoric turned down a bit.

I really wish I could find the article Rolling Stone did after OK City on the ties between the 1st militia movement and the Gun Lobby.

[eqfan592]

13. Given the primary purpose of the 2nd Amendment....

...which is to keep an armed populace so they may better defend themselves from threats, including any threat posed by the government, should the need arise, I don't really see a problem with framing it in that regard.

[jody]

9. To some ACLU staff, your focus on the 2nd may suggest you plan to use ACLU to advance your own

views.

IMO that won't fly in anti-gun ACLU states like MA or NY but could be an opening in states like Nevada where ACLU supports the 2nd.

IMO you need to think seriously about you goal, do you want to work with ACLU or do you want to make a statement re the 2nd.
:shrug:

[LAGC]

11. I live out west, right near Nevada, so I'm hoping they are more tolerant toward the issue.

Of course I want to work with the ACLU on most every issue they stand for, but I wouldn't mind advocating for a little bit of change from the inside (on this issue) while I'm at it.