When anything threatens the status quo, powerful institutions shift into gear to knock down the threat and nothing illustrates that better than the recent attack on ACORN by the Republicans and others on the right.

ACORN - the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now - has been in the sights of the right wing for some time, but last year the project culminated in a Congressional vote to deprive the group of any further government funding.

That came about because a video tape surfaced on the Internet, purporting to show ACORN staffers discussing with a man and a woman, supposedly a prostitute and her pimp, getting advice on how to get a place to ply their trade and, possibly, ways to hide their money.

The two, James O�Keefe and Hannah Giles, apparently tried unsuccessfully to get the same kind of help in other ACORN offices, but they weren�t successful. In one of the offices, staff called the police.

But they got enough �undercover� footage to cob something together and get it on the Internet, after which it took fire. In the minds of people like Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, the apparently doctored tape was a fine piece of �investigative journalism.�

The reaction was so strong - unhinged, as it were - that it swept up many Democrats, to the extent that, when a bill was introduced in Congress just to punish ACORN, the Republicans and many Democrats voted to prohibit any further government funding.

Turns out, however, that such a bill (called a bill of attainder) is prohibited by the U.S. Constitution (they seemed to have forgotten that it exists). Congress can not pass a law singling out an individual or an organization in that manner.

Whatever the final result of Congress� action, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, after a four-month investigation, issued a short statement this month, saying that the investigation had ended and �no criminality has been found.�

The group, which organizes low-income and other communities across the U.S. to gain their rights to housing, education, safe communities, and voting has been cleared, but the long-term Republican assault has had its effect.

Many of the chapters in cities across the nation have closed - at least, temporarily - and some have changed their name and will continue to do the work in their local communities, but without the umbrella of ACORN.

One of the things that most irked Republicans was ACORN�s voter registration efforts, which gave actual voting rights to untold numbers of citizens who never had exercised their rights in the voting booths, until ACORN explained the importance of voting and becoming active in the political process.

Unfortunately for Republicans (and, ultimately, for ACORN), most of those registered by ACORN became Democrats and that�s what set off the Republicans and their right-wing horde, including their propagandists in the media.

And the attack was relentless. ACORN was convicted by broadcast yakkers, the result of which was that they had many Democrats on the run. Before there was any investigation of the incident, there was conviction and action to de-fund the group.

Every organization of that size has its problems and ACORN has had its share and has dealt with them. This is an organization that does the heavy lifting of organizing communities at risk - black, white, and Latino communities.

The funding that ACORN has received from government sources since 1994 varies greatly - from $15 million, to $53 million. Republicans have worked themselves into a fit over ACORN, while they didn�t say much at all about the billions of dollars that disappeared down a rat hole in Iraq, with allegations of wrongdoing by �contractors� or companies that provided mercenaries for wars in that country and in Afghanistan.

O�Keefe again surfaced several weeks ago, when he was arrested with three other young men while allegedly trying to tamper with the telephone system in the offices of Senator Mary Landrieu, D-Louisiana.

It could have been just another pimp-and-prostitute caper, but it could have been something more serious, given the esteem in which O�Keefe and his three compatriots are held by the GOP and the right-wing broadcast bloviators. But, that remains to be seen as their case has yet to come to trial.

Obviously, voter registration can be more dangerous than war in the eyes of Republicans and many commentators, some of whom celebrated the would-be pimp and prostitute as great �investigative� journalists.

No one was surprised at the vote by Republicans to cut off funding, but there were a few surprises over the vote of some Democrats. In New York, for instance, according to a Buffalo News report last Sept. 20, Senator Chuck Schumer voted to cut off funding, while junior Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, obviously recognizing the railroading the group was getting, voted to continue the funding.

One of the local groups, in New York City, which changed its name commented on the district attorney�s short report, according to the Daily News, which reported that Jean Sassine, director of the new New York Communities for Change, said: "We are gratified that the district attorney, after a thorough investigation, found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing by ACORN. New York Communities for Change is committed to moving forward with management and transparency reforms and building a strong independent organization to advocate for low-income New Yorkers.�

The work that ACORN started - giving voice and practical help in organizing communities at risk and assistance to chronically deprived people - will go on in the new organizations. This work, of course, is what brought them to the attention of the nation�s increasingly vociferous right wing.

Who would have believed in America, the land of the free, that teaching Americans the value of voting and involvement in the political process would bring such power to bear on those who are among the most vulnerable in society?

When such allegations are made against members of Corporate America, the politicians just want those few transgressors to pay the price, but they wouldn�t kill the corporation. But, for them, ACORN is another story and they brought all of their power to bear in eliminating it. Democrats who voted to de-fund ACORN were in bad company.

BlackCommentator.com Columnist, John Funiciello, is a labor organizer and former union organizer. His union work started when he became a local president of The Newspaper Guild in the early 1970s. He was a reporter for 14 years for newspapers in New York State. In addition to labor work, he is organizing family farmers as they struggle to stay on the land under enormous pressure from factory food producers and land developers. Click here to contact Mr. Funiciello.