If a Martian lands on American soil, is he then automatically American and entitled to all the rights and liberties enjoyed by legal Americans citizens? I know that's a ridiculous question but this issue of extending American civil liberties to non-Americans has just reached ridiculous levels. From NewsMax today, comes this gem ("ACLU Sues Texas Town for Not Renting to Illegals") of real-life absurdity:
I often wonder why the ACLU and other organizations like it don't simply eliminate the "American" from their names and be done with it. Sheesh.
"Two civil rights groups filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a suburb's new law that outlaws renting to illegal immigrants, alleging the ordinance violates federal law and forces landlords to act as immigration officers." ...And, note the names of these "civil rights" groups (emphasis mine):
... "The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund filed the suit on behalf of Farmers Branch residents and landlords." ...Do the names of these organizations not explicitly identify that their purpose is to defend Americans? Whether Mexican-American, Irish-American, African-American, Polish-American, or whatever hyphenated-American with which one chooses to identify himself, one fact remains: Americans are people who, whether yesterday or centuries ago, were either (a) born in this country or (b) entered this country legally and swore allegiance to our country. It's really that simple. What part of "American" do these groups not understand?!
I often wonder why the ACLU and other organizations like it don't simply eliminate the "American" from their names and be done with it. Sheesh.
Comments
I absolutely believe in the values that we Americans hold dear; however, civil liberties are granted by the Constitution and by our government, hence the term "civil."
Until a person becomes an American, he or she cannot assume that American Civil Liberties apply to him/her. They do not.
I don't think that American values are held only by Americans. Many people value freedom, empowerment, achievement, and intellectual discourse. To assume those are soley American values is faulty at best.
I'm glad you commented on this, Bill. It's interesting to hear what the thinking is on this from someone who subscribes to a different political ideology. I simply think we are confusing the term "civil" with "God-granted."
However, we certainly might have some agreement with the names used by Christian organizations to further their agendas of trying to control personal -- and in the true Conservative sense, non-governmental -- matters by using the term "family."
To some degree though, you must admit, that the word family can be defined many ways, including the traditional Christian idea of what family means. So, they are within the definition of that word but actually discuss only the Christian (or traditional), idea of family. They might more accurately name themselves "Focus on the Christian Family" or "Focus on the Traditional Family."