I support the ACLU because the ACLU was there for us, as high school seniors, when we needed First Amendment advocates. It was back in Kansas, in 1972, when we launched “underground” newspapers to protest the policies of two different authority figures in our lives: President Richard Nixon, whose secret plan for peace in Vietnam had proven to be a wider war, and our high school principal, W.R. (“Bob”) Johnson, who banned the distribution of any written materials on campus that hadn’t received his prior approval. While we knew the Daily Android and Free Press might not appeal to everyone, we sensed our constitutional right to distribute these papers had been violated by the principal’s edict. One call to the ACLU armed us with learned counsel, who revived our faith in the legal system and helped restore our First Amendment rights. I also support the ACLU because it’s there for us today, in Arizona, to protect the rights and liberties we cherish — because all of us have a stake in the protection of the constitutional rights of our neighbors, however distant their backgrounds, lodgings or views may seem.