I’m old. 

Old enough to remember when the American Civil Liberties Union was a semi-respectable organization that - as its name implied - was dedicated to fiercely protecting civil liberties.

It was always a left-leaning organization, but in 1978 it famously defended the rights of Nazis to March through a Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Illinois that was home to many Holocaust survivors.

The Nazis were exercising their rights of free speech, the ACLU argued, even though it was odious speech.

They trot out this lone example of their relentless defense of the First Amendment, probably because there were precious few other times they took such an unpopular, but principled, stance.

Fast forward 42 years to a time when civil liberties really were under assault - shoot, governors closed American churches and synagogues last year - and where was the ACLU? 

Fretting about how difficult it was for women to obtain abortion pills during the pandemic.

In fact, that was one of the few times these far-left lawyers came out of their bunkers last year, as constitutional rights were wantonly trampled across the county.

The ACLU sat by as Americans lost their livelihoods and watched loved ones die all alone, springing into action only if abortions were in peril.

While state after state suspended “elective surgeries” - any procedure that can be scheduled and isn’t an emergency - the ACLU only screamed when the rules interfered with abortions. 

They didn’t care about suffering folks who couldn’t get their knees or hips replaced. The only thing that piqued the ACLU’s interest last year was unfettered access to abortions.

Yep, the lawyers of the ACLU remained mute as Americans were told they couldn’t work, worship, assemble, travel or show their bare faces in public.

Now the sleepy organization has awakened again, this time to fight for the power of government to slap masks ON THE FACES of little kids in South Carolina, where the governor has banned mask mandates for school children.

Digest that for a moment. The ACLU supports the government ordering healthy kids to wear masks. 

Intelligent people would see a ban on mask mandates - not a ban on masks - as a move in defense of civil liberties, but not the warped ACLU .

Dancing on the head of a legal pin, the ACLU argues that when children don’t wear masks they interfere with the civil liberties of immunocompromised kids to get an education.

Setting aside the question of whether masks are even effective  - a recent study published by the CDC indicates they are not - what kind of twisted interpretation of the U. S. Constitution is required to believe that the state should require masks on all children to protect a handful with medical issues?

I am not unsympathetic to the plight of children undergoing chemo or whose immune systems are impaired. These must be scary days for them and their families.

But similar fears would be present during a normal flu season, which in the past has been far more deadly to kids than Covid.

Once Covid-19 recedes, will the ACLU fight to keep masks on kids to protect sick kids during cold and flu season?

Where is the off-ramp?

If it wasn’t clear before, it is now: the ACLU is nothing but a deeply political organization with a misleading name and an affection for authoritarian government.

In other words, they’re a parody of what they claim to be.