ACLU
The American Civil Liberties Union is the nation's foremost advocate
of individual rights -- litigating, legislating, and educating the public
on a broad array of issues affecting individual freedom in the United States.
This is a general introduction and history to the ACLU, the first
in a series of briefing papers. Other briefing papers, produced by the
ACLU Office of Public Education, explain the organization's position on
a range of specific civil liberties issues.
The American system of government is built on two basic, counterbalancing principles: 1) that the majority of the people, through democratically elected representatives, governs the country and 2) that the power of even a democratic majority must be limited to insure individual rights. In every era of American history, the government has tried to expand its authority at the expense of individual rights. The American Civil Liberties Union exists to make sure that doesn't happen, and to fight back when it does.
The ACLU is not a public defender like Legal Services or Legal Aid. It does not handle criminal cases or civil disputes or choose sides according to financial criteria. Nor do we take political sides; we are neither liberal nor conservative, Republican nor Democratic. The ACLU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, 275,000-member public interest organization devoted exclusively to protecting the basic civil liberties of all Americans, and extending them to groups that have traditionally been denied them. In its almost seven decades in existence, the ACLU has become a national institution, and is widely recognized as the country's foremost advocate of individual rights.
The mission of the Anti Defamation League is "to stop the defamation
of the Jewish people and to secure
justice and fair treatment to all citizens alike." The headquarters
for the Anti Defamation League is in
New York City. Thirty-two Regional and Satellite Offices provide services
around the country. ADL has
an office in Jerusalem, a European Affairs Office in Vienna, Austria,
a representative in Rome, Italy, and
a Government Affairs Office in Washington, D.C.
NAACP
The NAACP, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
is the oldest, largest and strongest Civil Rights Organization in the United
States.
The principle objective of the NAACP is to ensure the political, educational, social and economic equality of minority group citizens of the United States.
The NAACP is committed to achievement through non-violence and relies upon the press, the petition, the ballot and the courts, and is persistent in the use of legal and moral persuasion even in the fact of overt and violent racial hostility.
Censure
and Move On
Despite strong public disapproval, the Congress has impeached the President.
Now the President faces trial in the Senate. This is not in the best interests
of our country...