Product Description

Nancy Chang of the Center for Constitutional Rights examines how the USA Patriot Act endows the executive branch of the U.S. government with vast unchecked powers, erodes civil liberties and privacy, and impacts the lives of immigrants.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #418425 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

Book Info
Timely analysis examines how the hastily approved USA Patriot Act endows the executive branch with vast new powers, erodes civil liberties, and adversely impacts immigrants. Softcover.

Customer Reviews

The outrageous bias renders this book unbelievable...
I suspect that the author of "Silencing Political Dissent" (Nancy Chang) is sincere and has good intentions. But the book is a gross overreaction to laws that have been passed since 9/11.

Even worse, Chang's obvious, sometimes vicious (or so it seems to me), blatant bias against the current administration renders the contents of the book completely unbelievable (and, quite frankly, laughable).

The fact is that I DO dissent, and I do so without fear. Thus how can I possibly believe Chang's assertions? No. Scare tactics, whether from the far-left or from the far-right, do not affect me.

I would NOT recommend this book to a friend.

Of course, this review (including all of the above paragraphs) is merely my opinion.

Relevant to the times
Nancy Chang's book, Silencing Political Dissent, becomes increasingly relevant with the re-election of this administration and recent security breaches with commercial databases. Ms. Chang predicted in 2002 that "With the advent of electronic record-keeping, the FBI is likely to maintain far more dossiers on law-abiding individuals and to disseminate the dossiers far more widely than during the COINTELPRO era." Commerical database companies are composing life pictures of individuals which are then sold to other businesses as well as government entities which might otherwise be restricted in the information collected.

Implications of the Patriotic Act
Nancy Chang's Silencing Political Dissent is a brilliant look into US history and current political agendas. Through her analysis of the Patriot Act , Chang is able to suggest to the reader the ways in which the newly militarized government is attempting to gain more power and less accountability through silencing the public and being secretive. The Patriot Act takes away constitutional rights and makes the fourth amendment null and void. This book allows the reader to look at the current "war on terror" in comparison to some historical events. Chang conveys the importance of this act by allowing the reader to imagine the implications that rightful protest could be considered terrorism and a person could be denied due process because of race, religion, or ethnicity. Most importantly, this book outlines the many steps that have been taken to deny rights to people showing a disregard for democracy and all that our country stands for.