At the heart of this supposedly liberal attitude lay deep suspicion of community or plural communities. That suspicion persists. It presumes that I would agree that the Klan or the Militia are serving to help constitute the basis of sturdy democratic community-which is absurd. It presumes that I want to repeal the Bill of Rights and federal law enforcement, which is equally absurd. This is where the ACLU displays liberal condescension so consistently and troublingly.
People go on automatic pilot.
And they do careless and horrible things as a result. Because they cannot take on an interlocutor. This, it seems, is how the ACLU reacts in many, if not the vast majority, of cases. To deny people the necessary preconditions, including fundamental physical safety, to enable them to enact and to display projects that flow from their basic sociality is to deny them their full humanity. Copyright Boston Review , 1993-2000.