How Would A Patriot Act?

What does America mean to you? Apple pie? Baseball? The Red, White & Blue? McDonald's? Blue Jeans? The Land of Opportunity? Freedom? Democracy?

Lots of things come to mind when I think of "America", but when I think of a dictatorship, I think of one major thing: Heavy combat boots kicking in doors, rough hands grabbing collars, and helpless people being hauled away, never to be seen or heard from again.

The greatest tragedy of 9/11 is not the deaths of nearly 3000 people. The real tragedy is that the Bush Administration decided to use that horrific event (and continues to do so to this day, every chance it gets) to undermine the basic foundation of the country. How Would A Patriot Act? Defending American Values from a President Run Amok by constitutional lawyer and writer Glenn Greenwald is a must-read for anyone who is interested in being an American, or who already calls themselves one.

In case you weren't paying attention in high school (I wasn't), America has faced worse than fanatical religious zealots bent on our destruction. In the 18th century, the British Empire was the most fearsome global power around. We beat it. Or, I should say, they beat it, that is, the founding fathers did.

One of the many aspects of our government that sets us apart from the rest of the world is the separation of powers into 3 branches. No one branch should have more authority over another. And if one did have any particular authority, it should be the one that represents the people: Congress.

To posit that a threat of unimaginable proportions would necessitate the need for the President to have unchecked, "broad, sweeping powers" (makes me think of Chancellor Palpatine in Star Wars) indicates that someone in the neocon fan club has been reading their George Orwell, or perhaps Nazi history.

Now we find ourselves living in an America that locks up its citizens without trials, without lawyers, and without presenting any evidence against them. You don't need to be a scholar (obviously I'm not one) to see how wrong this is. And illegal. It's more than just wrong and illegal, it's the antithesis of "America". So that it wouldn't have to force the Supreme Court to point out how insane it is, the Bush Administration finally charged Jose Padilla after he was imprisoned for 3 1/2 years.

But that's not all. In addition to hauling Padilla away, our President has also been spying on us without warrants and condoning torture. Also, illegal. I defy any staunchly conservative Republican to claim that Bill Clinton's lying about an extra-marital affair doesn't pale in comparison to Bush's direct violations of the U.S. Constitution and U.S and International Law. And to pass off these illegal acts as the way to combat the latest "threat to our very existence" posed by terrorism is so mind-bogglingly backward it makes me cross-eyed.

The truth is, the founders were faced with unimaginable challenges and threats, and that's exactly why they designed our nation's government the way they did. Greenwald quotes from the founders themselves, many quotes are pulled from The Federalist Papers, to illustrate this point dramatically. They knew this could happen. They were really smart. They were prepared for it. They also knew the power that fear has over the populace, and they were prepared for that too. They knew that the key to overcoming that fear was knowledge.

On many topics, I am just as ignorant, or more so, than any other American high school and college drop out. How Would A Patriot Act? puts many things into perspective. It provides facts, quotes, references, and is well worth the $12.00 price. Can you put a price on the tools that overcome tyranny? $12.00

If you call yourself an American, if you're proud to call yourself an American (or used to be proud), then you owe it to yourself and to your country to read this book. Arm yourself. Speak up. The revolution has already happened.

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Other Reading:

Power Surge: The Constitutional Record of George W. Bush by Gene Healy and Timothy Lynch

If you are interesting in keeping up with Constitutional abuses, you can read how President Clinton started the trend that Bush is expanding:

Dereliction of Duty: The Constitutional Record of President Clinton by Timothy Lynch
Timothy Lynch is assistant director of the Cato Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies.

Arrogance of Power Reborn: The Imperial Presidency and Foreign Policy in the Clinton Years
by Gene Healy
Gene Healy is a graduate of the University of Chicago Law School and an attorney practicing in Washington, D.C.

And for old school Abuse of Power, check out the growth of Presidential power during the Nixon Administration in The Imperial Presidency, by historian Arthur M Schlesinger Jr.

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Some famous quotes to mull over:

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Benjamin Franklin

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.” Patrick Henry

“The liberties of our country, the freedoms of our civil Constitution are worth defending at all hazards; it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors. They purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood. It will bring a mark of everlasting infamy on the present generation – enlightened as it is – if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of designing men." -Samuel Adams

“Whenever the people are well informed, they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights.” Thomas Jefferson

“Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.” Henry David Thoreau

“A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government.” Edward Abbey

“It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.” Voltaire

“I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it's the government.” Woody Allen