How Would A Patriot Act? -- Glenn Greenwald: A Book Review

How Would A Patriot Act?: Defending American Values From a President Run Amok
Glenn Greenwald
Working Assets Publishing, 2006

Dissent is not unpatriotic.  In fact, dissent is necessary for the continuous flow of information in a free society.  The ability to voice a differing or contrary opinion without fear of governmental retaliation is accorded every American in the Constitution through the First Amendment.  It is this constitutional right that the Bush administration has not only attacked repeatedly but dismissed nearly altogether during their tenure in office.

Such is the message of How Would A Patriot Act?: Defending American Values From a President Run Amok.  Author Glenn Greenwald, a constitutional lawyer and creator/writer of the political blog “Unclaimed Territory,” sets out to defend the constitution and its genius from ideologues and party hacks that would disregard, dismiss, and dismember our constitutional rights for political expediency and ideological supremacy, neglecting at the same time that those constitutional rights have been and are the foundation for the society that allowed them their individual paths to the positions from which they exert so much political power.  By twisting, subverting, reinterpreting, and eliminating certain aspects of our constitutional law, the current administration denies the American people their freedom from the oppression of government. 

And just how has the Bush administration done that? 

Through illegal National Security Agency eavesdropping on American citizens without properly obtained warrants, ignoring even the more lenient legal procedures the Bush administration was instrumental in procuring through Congress.  Through the writing and ill-advised swift passage of the Patriot Act.  Through arrests of American citizens and detaining them indefinitely without allowing them due process of law.  Through actions known as “extraordinary renditioning,” where a subject is taken to other nations against their will and detained, sometimes indefinitely, for questioning.  Through presidential “signings” that, instead of offering insights or methods of improvement, authoritatively select and parse passed legislation to fit presidential policy, thereby circumventing the newly passed law.  Through manipulating or coercing the press to conform to administrative policies.  Through condoning torture on detainees and prisoners.  Through the use of fear as a political tactic to suppress dissension.  Through claiming an inherent authority in the office of president to act without supervision or check in any manner the office deems necessary, more often as not using the tired but effective excuse of “national security interests.”  Through the use of rhetoric to label dissension as unpatriotic, counterproductive, “wrong-headed,” and “against us.” 

But before you might begin to believe that Glenn Greenwald is just some left-wing liberal on a mission to disparage and indict the Bush administration, it must be stated that Greenwald was a non-actor in politics, choosing to allow the political process to carry on without him.  He maintains that he was content to do so until the Bush administration began an unprecedented seizure of authority, centralizing government decisions in the office of the presidency, either ignoring or circumventing the checks and balances set up to deter just such a power shift within the government of the United States.  Specifically, it was the arrest and unlawful detention of Jose Padilla, the “dirty bomber,” where the Bush administration publicly proclaimed it would hold Padilla indefinitely, uncharged and without access to counsel, that prompted Greenwald to begin questioning and writing against the constitutional criminality of the Bush administration and its actions. 

How Would A Patriot Act? is an excellent book on how a nation galvanized by fear and anger at the atrocities committed on September 11, 2001, allowed an autocratic and dictatorial administration to literally disregard the Constitution of the United States, even in matters where it was completely unnecessary.  It is a book that calls Americans to an awareness of what has been done and how that awareness can be used to reformulate, redirect, redress, and reverse current autocratic and authoritative policies that run counter to the traditional constitutional values and legal structures of the United States.

Glenn Greenwald was like many Americans, content to let the political issues of the day be dinner conversation and interesting talking points for the water cooler.  But the more power he observed being given the presidency, along with the flagrant abuse of constitutional law committed by the Bush administration, drove him to become a more active political voice.

He asked himself, "How would a patriot act?" 

He began to dissent.

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Note:  Glenn Greenwald’s blog, “Unclaimed Territory”, can be found on Salon.com.