[PEN-L:4841] Re: Liberty Lobby: NAFTA REPEAL: HR 499 INFO, Apr.24

[Robert Naiman <naiman@xxxxxxx>]

I don't want to start a big discussion of this on PEN-L; but I do want to
note that not everyone (e.g. me) agrees with the view that one cannot
participate in a coalition or action if such a group as the Liberty Lobby is
also a participant. I suspect that some people who hold such a view might not
do so in a thoroughly consistent way; they might, for example, have no
problem participating in an activity with the ADL, also a racist organization
of far more significance than the Liberty Lobby.
It seems to me that one should either agree to work with anyone in a
coalition on a particular issue ("repeal NAFTA") or have very clear,
consistent and principled criteria ("I refuse to work with any racist
organization"). Applying the latter principle in a truly consistent way would
knock out a lot of activities: working with ADL, certainly. Then there's the
Democratic Party, the AFL-CIO...

-bob naiman