Reason’s Ron Bailey explains why, after years of routinely throwing their solicitations in the trash, he has finally joined the ACLU:

Why now? I still disagree with the ACLU’s official positions on the death penalty and freedom of association, so perhaps this column can be regarded as a kind of personal “side letter” similar to those that often accompany treaties in which countries except themselves from provisions they dislike. Nevertheless, the ACLU is oh-so-right on the vital and timely constitutional issues of free speech and protection of people from unreasonable and intrusive government action.

While I’ve certainly considered joining, for similar reasons, the ACLU still takes too many positions that I find offensive for me to associate myself with them. While I, too, fear the PATRIOT Act, the idiotic war on drugs, and the intrusions on our 4th Amendment rights that have been made in a futile effort to stop terrorists, I still can’t bring myself to support the ACLU. Their rabid support of abortion alone is enough to keep me away. Their positions on homosexual-transsexual equivalency, rights of prison inmates, immigration, capital punishment, and several other issues are simply extreme.