Law is meant to protect the inalienable rights of people. But the Patriot Act acts. It does not protect human rights. It is not real patriotism. It imposes the will of institutional government upon people, at the expense of the rights inherent to our humanity.

The First Amendment in the United States’ Bill of Rights is the original patriot act. The First Amendment is the formula for true patriotism; a prescription to non-violently oppose monopolistic isms, and isms of all sorts. It is the way in which change is conducted without hostile confrontation. In this way, the First Amendment is the very definition of patriotism.

There are five distinct parts to the First Amendment. These five distinctions spell out five separate rights of freedom, and five stages essential to patriotic action: think, seek, speak, stop, act.