ACLU head on redefining civic virtue in America

CORNWALL — American Civil Liberties Union President Susan N. Herman will speak at the Cornwall Historical Society Sunday, April 8, at 2 p.m.

Herman’s talk is the Historical Society’s annual Norman Dorsen lecture. It honors the late Cornwall resident, who was president of the ACLU and was also an owner of The Lakeville Journal Co.

Herman’s talk is called “A Republic, If You Can Keep It,” a reference to Benjamin Franklin’s famous remark.

In a phone interview on Friday, March 23, Herman said she will come at the importance of constitutional protections for everyone from a historical perspective, examining what Franklin and the other American founders thought about protecting their experiment in self-governance.

She said she will focus on freedom of speech issues and attacks on the press — both historical and contemporary.

She will trace the history of “demonizing” various groups of people at different points in American history.

And she will talk about threats to democracy itself, particularly voting rights.

She said she will go back to the founders and their idea of smaller republican government and civic virtue.

In an age of hyper-partisanship, “we need a new definition of civic virtue.”

The talk will be held at the Village Meetinghouse in Cornwall,  8 Bolton Hill Road, on Sunday, April 8, at 2 p.m.

 Admission is free. A reception will follow in the parish house.