Skokie seemed to establish the willingness to take an unpopular stand in defense of a principle as another prerequisite for all liberal thinkers of my generation, especially young ones. As the leader of the American Civil Liberties Union for 23 years, he transformed the organization from a small, "mom-and-pop" operation on the verge of bankruptcy into a civil liberties juggernaut with offices in every state and a $30 million endowment. This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. Contributions by PACs increased from $20.5 million in 1976 to $189 million in 1994. The phrase was values contrary to. Oversaw $180 Million Combined Divisions for US Wear/Apparel America in NY, NY and Santiago, Dominican Republic. Where did it go? One, I saw an interesting review of it called The Disintegration of the ACLU, by James Kirchick inTablet,who called it an elegy to a world that no longer exists, when personal affinity wasnt contingent upon ideological affinity. The other was thatIinterviewed Thomas Frank the other day, after the author ofThe People, No! Big-screen message after big-screen message spoke to the overreach of the sixties revolution, and by 1985 the top hits wereRambo: First Blood Part II,which blamed antiwar activists for losing the Vietnam War, andBack to the Future, one of the first in a series of big-budget efforts designed to offer the Eisenhower years as a replacement template for cool. Brian Stelter and Susan Glasser discuss the resignations of Fox News contributors Steve Hayes and Jonah Goldberg. As Glasser puts it, the stands at Ebbets field were probably the only fully integrated public accommodation in the country, and would forever be a symbol to him of what America could be and was supposed to be, at its best. Or knows about it, Maher added, to audience applause. This short article by Ira Glasser (former head of the ACLU) is the best concise explanation of why we need the First Amendment that I've ever read. Subscribe to the Real Time YouTube: http://itsh.bo/10r5A1BThe former ACLU Executive Director and subject of the documentary, "Mighty Ira," joins Bill to disc. We should insist that required campaign finance reports be filed in a uniform format on tape or disk so that they can be posted on the Internet and available to all interested individuals at once. The two narratives are eerily similar. Its imperative for us to know the history that led Ira and his colleagues to take their positions and stake out their values, he adds. 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Speaking in Maine returns to Camden and the Mid-Coast Forum on Foreign Relations, for an address by Ira Glasser, longtime Director of the ACLU and now President of the Drug Policy Alliance. A film with even more prescience wasThe Star Chamber,a crime thriller starring Michael Douglas and the just-passed Yaphet Kotto, whose title referenced an ancient English tribunal that operated in secret, judging those too powerful to be tried in common-law courts. The success of a third political party led credence to the Populist Party and accelerated its growth going into the 1896 Presidential election. More: Joe Biden. Thank you for the opportunity to present these views. Once he won in court, the Nazi leader Collin decided not to march in Skokie, and was eventually humiliated first by a giant counter-demonstration in Chicago, then by a child molestation charge that landed him in prison. You see a Nazi. The major cost of election campaigns is the cost of communicating with voters - a core First Amendment activity. Because the work of Glasser and his cohorts occurred largely before the internet age, Their ideas, their writings and their lifes work are harder to discover, Perrino says. The central goal in talking and working with people who you dont agree with, notes Glasser, is to persuade them that there is a common interest between us.. In fact, he explained how defending this group of "maybe 15 or 20 crazies" helped the Civil Rights movement. Since the Court ruled in Buckley v. Valeothat candidates cannot corrupt themselves, a wealthy candidate can spend millions on his own campaign. In 1977, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) went to court to defend the rights of American Nazis to march through the streets of Skokie, Illinois, home to many Holocaust survivors. Thats the ACLU? Produced by Perrino and two of his FIRE colleagues, Chris Maltby and Aaron Reese, the film was released in October on the occasion of the ACLU centennial, and is now streaming on multiple platforms. ira glasser political party. A nonlawyer and proud of it, Glasser led the ACLU from 1978 until 2001 and is credited by the organization for having transformed it "from a mom-and-pop-style operation concentrated mainly in a . That optimism is vanishing, though, and just like Ebbets Field, a generation may grow up now never knowing it was there. The ACLU receives no funding from the federal government. As his generation retires from the barricades, Ira reminisces on his life at the forefront of defending the rights of all Americans. Thus, the owner of a newspaper could openly campaign for one candidate in the pages of his publication, but a wealthy individual could not provide equivalent support to the other candidate to allow him to respond. This is a requirement now for the national ACLU employers, that before they take a case defending someones free speech they have to make sure that the speech doesnt offend or threaten other civil liberties values., In other words, before theyre going to defend your free speech, they want to see what you say, a befuddled-looking Glasser continued. Glassers amiability, sense of humor, and sincere dedication to principle end up impressing even his political opponents, who may not change their minds, but at least become convinced that people who disagree may become friends. Over the years he and Buckley have . The discussion ended up being an exercise in mutual puzzlement. In 1896, the Democratic Party . This should not be a result anyone would support. Shows likeCrossfirewere framed as earnest debates, where someone from the right (Pat Buchanan?) Organisations by this name have been dedicated to irredentism through Irish republicanism, the belief that all of Ireland should be an independent republic free from British rule.. We see him hanging out at the Comedy Cellar on MacDougal Street in New York Glasser probably could have been a comic, not something one can say about a lot of current activists engaging with a table of comedians, who push him hard on where exactly the line is between speech and violence. As Glasser says inMighty Ira, Anyone in power is going to violate civil liberties sooner or later, which is why we end up suing everybody, including our members.. In that show,the ex-hippie parents desperately trying to hang on to the anti-establishment aesthetic of their youth through bleeding-heart platitudes and goofy facial hair were the squares. Ira Glasser, ACLU's longtime-former executive director, still backs that decision, he told Reason in a podcast. However, Clinton won by hurling overboard most of the meaningful principles of liberalism. Everybody says I believe in free speech, BUT. It sought to enjoin them from publishing such ads, and it wrote a letter toThe TimesthreateningThe Timeswith criminal prosecution if it published such an ad again. The 99-minute documentary honors Glassers lifelong commitment to strengthening the legal support system for free expression, even when that expression may run counter to majority views. If ever there was a moment when speech could be harm, rubbing salt in the wounds of camp survivors, whod spent decades convincing themselves that this leafy suburb in the American midwest was a safe haven, had to qualify. Alongside the nonstop nostalgia for the fifties that time before President Kennedy was shot, before the Beatles came, when I couldnt wait to join the Peace Corps, and I thought Id never find a guy as great as my dad, as Jennifer Greys Baby put it inDirty Dancing came an avalanche of political messaging. What happened to the Glasser-style liberalism we grew up with? April 1, 2021 1:00 pm. I appreciate the opportunity to set forth my views and the views of the American Civil Liberties Union on the constitutional issues involved in campaign finance laws. The runaway inflation ravaging Americans wallets is going to Jack Hunter is a freelance writer, the co-author of Sen. Rand Pauls 2011 book The Tea Party Goes to Washington and the editor of the libertarian news site Liberty Tree, published by Sen. Pauls campaign. Mighty Iratraces the reasoning of people like Glasser and ACLU attorneys like David Goldberger, as they connect their decision to defend Nazi leader Frank Collin in Skokie to their years of advocacy in the sixties for black civil rights workers in the South. In 2017, he led a protest against a white supremacist rally in Berkeley, and has since taken part in protests of Trump administration policies on refugees (in particular, the separation of families). Stern continues to be a principled activist against racism and antisemitism. [1] Early years [ edit] Ira Glasser was born on April 18, 1938, at Brooklyn Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. [2] He earned a graduate degree in mathematics from Ohio State University. All qualified candidates, including minor party candidates, could be given an adequate franking privilege during the campaign. Next thing you know, Forsyth County, Georgia, might be banningHosea Williams from marching on Martin Luther King Day. Lee Camp: How Corporate America Supports Racism, Hatred & Exploitation (in New & Fun Ways! Any funds candidates raise from other sources should not be limited. Theres a scene at the beginning ofMighty Ira,an elegant and thought-provoking documentary about longtime ACLU director Ira Glasser, where the movies eponymous hero walks along the grounds of Ebbets Field Apartments, home of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. Nico Perrino was only 26 when he met two giants in the history of the American Civil Liberties Union: Ira Glasser, its executive director from 1978 to 2001, and Norman Siegel, the leader of the New York Civil Liberties Union from 1985 to 2000. The result? What monster could agitate, in the courts, to bring about a repeat of such a scene? Glasser and Stern met in person for the first time Wednesday. This could be done in a variety of ways. The letter made no mention of the election and indeed the ACLU has never supported or opposed any candidate for elective office and is strictly nonpartisan. I love you, the 96-year-old Stern says. My big concern is who makes the decision, what speech is allowable and what is not?. They just produced a couple of years ago new guidelines for their lawyers to use when deciding what free speech cases to take, the ex-ACLU man explained. Plot summary Add synopsis Genres Comedy Talk-Show Parents guide Add content advisory Details Release date January 15, 2021 (United States) What did liberalism mean back then? But public disclosure must be timely in order to be useful. | Publishers Weekly. He describes driving past as the baseball cathedral was torn down in 1960 and seizing up with horror, an experience like losing a parent., Now, nothing is left but a plaque in the ground where home plate once sat, and he cant process the idea that there might be washing machines doing somebodys dirty laundry on the ground where Robinson once stole home. He has the First Amendment right to do so, which no one can dispute, and which federal election laws recognize. Moreover, they inevitably lead to curbs on speech that everyone agrees should be protected by the First Amendment. Ira Glasser Updated Oct. 05, 2020 11:26PM ET / Published Oct. 04, 2020 5:03AM ET N ot too long ago, I was speaking to an audience at a prominent and highly regarded law school. Opinion polls ahead of the Irish election suggested a surge in support for left-leaning Sinn Fin . I had to force myself to remember how awful you and your influence are, Buckley joked in a congratulatory note, after Glassers retirement dinner. As such, he was aware of the ACLUs vast expansion under Glasser and its role in broadening the First Amendments protection for free expression for all Americans. Thats a good guess, Glasser replied, to audience laughter. In 1974, in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, Congress enacted a new and even more elaborate statutory scheme. Forget factories, coal mines, and courthouses. We asked the Court to strike down the campaign finance law because it violated the First Amendment rights of citizens to speak their minds on public policy issues and to criticize or praise elected officials. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education I ra Glasser, national American Civil Liberties Union executive director from 1978. I am very aware always have been that Ive been able to really enjoy free speech especially here on HBO, and at ABC before they fired me, he quipped. I have been involved with this issue for nearly three decades and personally authorized the ACLU's participation in Buckley v. Valeoand also in two important campaign finance cases that immediately preceded Buckley - National Committee on Impeachment v. United Statesand ACLU v. Jennings. And while incumbents in the House of Representatives outspent challengers by 1.5 to 1 in 1976, they outspent challengers by 4 to 1 in 1992. Modern elite politics believes, as Perrino puts it, that all that is good and noble has been decided, a new version of theEnd Of Historydelusion that assumes problems are simple binary choices best decided by the push of a button, and has no interest in the idea that things have to be worked out through struggle and debate, over time. It amended the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA), to reform the rules governing the financing of federal election campaigns. Ira Glasser is a giant in the world of freedom of speech. I can make the same argument: that Ira's vote for Biden (which he admitted to) was a vote for drone-bombing Syrian children. Do you want every little town to decide which speech is permitted? Glasser asked. That is exactly what happened recently when Sam Wyly, a wealthy supporter of George W. Bush, independently spent his own money to advocate Bush's election. Human rights were non-negotiable for true liberals: Clinton gave Most Favored Nation trading status to China. For the American public radio personality, see, Last edited on 21 September 2022, at 05:19, ACLU Chief Ira Glasser to Retire in 2001; 23-Year Tenure Transformed "Liberty's Law Firm", Ira Glasser on Free Speech | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO), Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics Biography, ACLU Press-Release on Glasser's Retirement, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ira_Glasser&oldid=1111476438, This page was last edited on 21 September 2022, at 05:19. By Ira Glasser, Guest Writer Guest Writer Apr 5, 2010, 05:12 AM EDT | Updated May 25, 2011 In a statement relevant to the political tensions of today, Perrino adds, Its a generation that also knew it had to engage their ideological opponents in debate, to speak across lines of difference, in order to win their values something Ira did repeatedly with his sparring partner and friend, William F. Buckley Jr.. Many other organizations, including the National Organization for Women, anti-tax groups, anti-abortion groups and others have been similarly cited - some for doing nothing more than publishing the voting records of members of Congress on the issues that concerned them. Actually, most of the speech we defended didnt reflect our values. Beyond the constitutional problems posed by FECA's expenditure limitations, the terms of the limitations made little sense even from the perspective of those who were concerned about the corruption that might flow from large contributions. By Peter Baker , Susan Glasser , Erica Thompson , Leila Philip. Movie review of "Mighty Ira," Directed and Produced by Nico Perrino, Chris Maltby and Aaron Reese . But a candidate of more modest means is prohibited from accepting more than $1000 from a wealthy supporter. Naturally, it appeared in a right-leaning site, Spiked, but that makes no difference. However, we support public financing that would establish a floor of support for candidates to communicate with voters. But the problem is there isnt any other ACLU., And if there isnt somebody whos prepared to defend what you say [Glasser pointed at Maher], and prepared to defend what the Nazis say, Glasser warned, then the government gets to decide who can speak.. Organizations have the right to change. They also sensitized us to the unintended effects of campaign finance reforms. A public financing system could in principle minimize corruption, equalize access to voters, and promote free speech by establishing a real floor. How the ACLU got woke, became political, and changed its mission. Once he got to know the former ACLU icon, he realized that his story was completely lost on my generation, but also increasingly relevant, for reasons that become clear minutes into the film.