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Retired since 2001, Glasser tells Nick Gillespie that in an age of cancel culture and wokeness, he's worried not just about the future of free expression but the future of the ACLU, too. Earl Warren, with the help of Ira Glassers ACLU, siccedFreddy Kruegeron your kids! The ACLU defended the Nazis' right to march and won the case on First Amendment grounds, but at a high cost: 30,000 members quit the organization in protest. Once the law's expenditure limit was reached, he could not spend another dime on leaflets or letters or radio ads, even if thousands of his supporters contributed $5 each to allow him to do so. Ira Glasser also fields listener calls about free speech and discusses everything from the First Amendment to our fear of hate speech. Where did it go? 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. (Its full name is the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.). In 2018, for instance, a leaked memo offered guidelines for case selection that retreated from the ACLU's longstanding content-neutral stance, citing as a reason to decline a case "the extent to which the speech may assist in advancing the goals of white supremacists or others whose views are contrary to our values. Ira Glasser Remembers William F. Buckley, Jr. - HuffPost Mighty Ira. The thread that ran through that movie, and through hits likeDie Hard, Lethal Weapon,and even shows likeThe A-Team,was that democracy doesnt work, and the insistence on due process and rights just inhibits justice and enables bad guys. 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. By Matt Taibbi "Mighty Ira," a documentary about legendary former ACLU chief Ira Glasser, is simultaneously inspiring and unnerving. 'The ACLU would not take the Skokie case today' - Spiked What monster could agitate, in the courts, to bring about a repeat of such a scene? took on someone from the left (Michael Kinsley? ira glasser political party - reactoresmexico.com That he supports the First Amendment.. The two narratives are eerily similar. The movie depicted politics as a palace drama led by a heroic Clinton figure who bombed Libya (but felt bad about it) and dated a lobbyist who burned a flag with her ACLU pals. Michael Douglass Andrew Shepherd stands up for Sydney Ellen Wade in the way Dukakis didnt stand up for Kitty, and declares with manly pride that I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU but the truth was, Clinton Democrats of the type Shepherd was supposed to represent were running full-speed in the opposite direction from the brand of working-class liberalism the ACLU represented. ACLU Hero Ira Glasser: How Freedom of Speech Protects You from Rulers 'So to Speak' podcast transcript: Former ACLU Executive Director Ira 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. Robbins: Freedom of speech gets squeezed from both sides Thats the most dangerous thing of all, Glasser finished. Ira Glasser is well-known (indeed, fabled) in civil liberties circles as the long-time (1978-2001) Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) during the period of its biggest growth spurt and most potent influence on the protection of freedom of speech and other civil . The Source of the Problem - and Its Remedy. Alvin Fine, former Emanu-El rabbi, backed civil liberties, Home repair project? Would the ACLU Still Defend Nazis' Right To March in Skokie? - Reason.com 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. Main Menu. Free Speech-Former ACLU Leader Ira Glasser Tells Us It's Not What You In both these cases the government argued that barring such ads was necessary to achieve fair elections even though the rights of individuals to criticize their government would be curbed. Terrorist Groups and Political Legitimacy - Council on Foreign Relations Over and over, his DLC strategists worked the same theme: switching out a working-class political template for an upper-class, authoritarian substitute. Actually, most of the speech we defended didnt reflect our values. Glasser was obsessed with the Dodgers as a kid, becoming a fan at the age of 9, in 1947, when Jackie Robinson joined the team. The phrase was values contrary to. Glasser then said, more seriously, If youre hiring a lawyer to defend the First Amendment, you want to have a reasonable assumption that he likes the First Amendment. If you pay attention, you will spot hints of darker issues to come dotted throughout the movie. He was referring to his previous show, Politically Incorrect, which was axed by ABC in 2002 following a series of controversies that even had then-White House press secretary Ari Fleischer warning Maher to watch himself, saying Americans need to watch what they say.. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Missouri woman cant watch her fathers execution, judge rules, ACLU pushes for court order over abysmal conditions in LA County Jail, The ACLUs latest step to becoming just another progressive scold at civil liberties expense, Arkansas cant ban treatment for transgender kids, appeals court rules. Former ACLU leader Ira Glasser slams organization's 'progressive' new Glasser wanted viewers to know why he believes the ACLUs step back from defending free speech is dangerous for the preservation of basic constitutional freedoms in the United States. Mary Lou McDonald's Sinn Fin fielded 42 candidates in Saturday's election, and won 37 seats. Such inequalities were built into the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act, and they are inherent in any legislative scheme that utilizes limits on contributions. This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. Diseo y fabricacin de reactores y equipo cientfico y de laboratorio Public Policy Advocacy Highlights for February 2023 - Vox PPLI Maher continued, Our values, but your value is free speech. Glasser laughed at Mahers observation. Ira Glasser, who grew up in Brooklyn as a devout Brooklyn Dodgers . A theme of the movie is Glasser just talking and talking. On 60 Minutes, Ira Glasser, who spent 34 years at the ACLU . If a friend and supporter owned a newspaper, he or she could do so. Thanks for contacting us. And thats the most dangerous thing of all, he said. ), but this WWE-style format always had the conservative on the attack while the liberal was always retreating and apologizing. As a result, they tend to grasp that theyll eventually be targets of speech rollbacks. ", https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/chrt.fm/track/35917C/d2h6a3ly6ooodw.cloudfront.net/reasontv_audio_8088607.mp3. 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. There's a scene at the beginning of Mighty Ira, an elegant and thought-provoking documentary about longtime ACLU director Ira Glasser, where the movie's eponymous hero walks along the grounds of Ebbets Field Apartments, home of the old Brooklyn Dodgers. 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 point, he stressed. Glasser points out that use of all drugs has gone down in countries such as Portugal and Holland where usage is decriminalized. Meanwhile, Michael J. Foxs Alex Keaton character, who worshipped Milton Friedman instead of Salinger and kept a portrait of Nixon where most kids kept the Blue Oyster Cult poster, was the rebel. Special issue: Academic speech Protected or perilous? Ira Glasser That optimism is vanishing, though, and just like Ebbets Field, a generation may grow up now never knowing it was there. Nick Gillespieisan editor at largeatReason and host of The Reason Interview With Nick Gillespie. It struck down limits on independent expenditures, ruling that any individual or group unconnected to a candidate could advocate the election or defeat of that candidate without limit. 1992 - 20019 years. Glasser is best known for his leadership of the ACLU after the organizations much-pilloried decision to represent neo-Nazis who wanted to march in a suburb of Chicago called Skokie, Illinois. 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). Ira Glasser on Free Speech - Houston Public Media - Houston Public The Brooklyn-born Glasser, a mathematician and educator, took over the ACLU in 1978, just after the organization defended, with attendant controversy, the right of American neo-Nazis to march for their beliefs in Skokie, Illinois, home to many Jewish survivors of the Holocaust. But public disclosure must be timely in order to be useful. "[Former Rep.] John Lewis said that without free speech and the right to dissent, the Civil Rights movement would have been a bird without wings. bdc loan default / 1440 daily digest unsubscribe / 1440 daily digest unsubscribe on Is Traditional Ira Glasser-Style Liberalism Vanishing? "Mighty Ira," a documentary about legendary former ACLU chief Ira Glasser, is simultaneously inspiring and unnerving. 1978, and Skokie, turns out to be the zenith of the ACLUs influence, and the brand of liberalism Glasser represents begins slipping from the culture almost from the moment the case ends kidnapped, seemingly, just like Glassers beloved Dodgers. But when Ramsey Clark ran for the U.S. Senate, he voluntarily decided to limit individual contributions to his campaign to $100, and in fact, the average contribution he received was not much more than $20. 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. 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. That's historically and politically true without exception. Consider this hypothetical. No, thats the government! he insisted. 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. Thats a good guess, Glasser replied to laughter in the audience. And his ability to speak to the electorate -to publish leaflets, to mail to constituents, to buy radio and TV time, to buy ads in newspapers etc. 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. In fact, he explained how defending this group of "maybe 15 or 20 crazies" helped the Civil Rights movement. The Supreme Court ultimately and properly struck down that aspect of the law in Buckley v. Valeo. Around that same time, TV news began to push another angle. EvenNightmare on Elm Streetwas a right-wing commercial: Freddy Krueger is a psycho-killer free to torment children because in life, someone forgot to sign a search warrant and a drunk judge set him free. In 1970 he became the NYCLU's executive director, in which capacity he served until he became the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in 1978. Susan Griffin. 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. The honor roll included Senator George McGovern. Rupert Murdoch owns the New York Postand decides to use his newspaper to campaign for the election of Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to the U.S. Senate. GoLocalProv | News | Confidential RI ACLU Letter Criticizes National Mighty Ira: Directed by Chris Maltby, Nico Perrino, Aaron Reese. In addition to establishing an unbiased system of public financing, there is another area in which Congress can improve the existing system of campaign regulation: public disclosure of large gifts. But throughout the movie, you can feel the skepticism of the Internet age closing all around him. Some thoughts on free speech champion Ira Glasser's comments on the But the team was disappeared, kidnapped to Los Angeles by owner Walter OMalley, described by Glasser as one of historys three great villains, the other two being Hitler and Genghis Khan (Ive always rooted for the San Andreas Fault to take care of the Dodgers in Los Angeles ever since, Glasser quips). 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! Mighty Ira movie review & film summary (2020) | Roger Ebert The ACLU receives no funding from the federal government. final four 2022 euroleague tickets. The locals awaiting the arrival of white nationalists in 2017 make exactly the same declarations the Skokie residents made, about how were not going to have it here.. Western Leaders Privately Say Ukraine Can't Win the War. The ACLU declined to comment early Monday. Liberalism was pro-labor: Clinton Democrats embraced NAFTA and accelerated the Reagan-era export of the manufacturing economy, which allowed them to attract Wall Street donors and end their dependence on union money. Lee Camp: How Corporate America Supports Racism, Hatred & Exploitation (in New & Fun Ways! Hezbollah battled Israeli forces in southern Lebanon to a standstill for. This is not counted as a campaign expenditure or as a contribution by the taxpayers. 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.