🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <newsfollowup:4f83o6$nm1@uwm.edu>,
mailto:gblock@alpha1.csd.uwm.edu (Gregory R Block) wrote, regarding
<http://www.eff.org/blueribbon.html>:

>Seriously, though, I urge everyone to adopt the Blue Ribbon campaign,
>as well as the CDF blackout; if anyone needs help turning their
>WWW-backgrounds black, e-mail me, I'll provide the necessary tags, or
>follow the above link to the blueribbon site for more information.
>
>Let's all show support in whatever way we can; it has already gone too
>far, and will undoubtedly go farther, if we can't convince the
>government that we won't be restricted by censorship in whatever form
>it takes.

Personally, I'm tired of the countless colored ribbons that serve as
a delicate and silent protest for the suffering.  If I go to the
trouble of rewriting my HTML for some 48 hour protest, will any of my
elected representatives somehow stop by my site and pick up a hint?  I
don't think so.  Following the House floor debate on February 1st
(http://thomas.loc.gov/r104/r104h01fe6.html), I got the distinct
impression that most members had almost zero personal exposure to the
Internet, but significant exposure to telecom lobbyists.

Our political system is driven almost entirely by commercial interests
which supply the money, which buys the ads, which push the buttons,
which move the voters, who are almost a technicality in the process --
because the same money is also backing the opposing candidate.

The politicians elected to represent us would sooner flush the Bill of
Rights than offend the commercial interests that supply their lifeblood.
Last year they disposed of the Fourth Amendment, this year it's the
First.  "It'll create fantastic new jobs in a wonderful futuristic
industry," they say -- even though telecom workers already lead the
layoff list and you're connected with phonemail in some distant locale
whenever you call your cable company to complain.

The Internet represents a serious threat to many telecom interests,
because people are freely exchanging information without much of a
faucet or meter or attractive, well-groomed moderator such as you would
find in, say, cable television.  These companies have spent a bundle
getting things worked out to their benefit, and Congress and the
President have gone and given them more than they ever expected.  After
all, telecommunications shape opinion and there's an election coming up.

The only power that remains to us -- and believe me, there have already
been some serious discussions about "restructuring" this too -- is the
vote.  A politician who loses the election becomes a useless servant to
any interest.

The way to get the attention of a politician is by reminding them of
your voting power by means of a letter or a fax.  Phone calls are not as
effective, because they are only tallied, not transcribed.  Email is only
available for some members, and only God knows what happens to it.  A
letter or fax, however, will usually get you a signed, boilerplate
response on impressive letterhead about a month later. Structured and
organized mailing campaigns can be more easily dismissed than a heartfelt,
serious message from a constituent.  If the politician gets enough similar
letters or faxes, you may also get some attention.  This has recently
proven to be effective -- you will notice that we still have Public
Television for the time being, despite the desires of the commercial
interests waiting to gobble it up in an auction.

A recent Washington Post survey of the American public revealed that we
are ridiculously ignorant about our own representantive "democracy."  A
good many of us have no idea who the Vice President or the Speaker of the
House might be, let alone our own members of Congress.  If this is you,
fear no more:  You have one Rep. in the House, and two Senators in (yep!)
the Senate.  You can find out who they are, how they vote, what they've
done, and even their MAILING ADDRESSES AND FAX NUMBERS via Congressional
Quarterly's "On the Job" page (http://voter96.cqalert.com/cq_job.htm).

Next, write them a letter or fax demanding that they find a way to repeal
the outrageous "indecency" provisions of the Telecommunications Act.
They are, after all, the people who write the laws, and they can just as
easily unwrite them -- even after they're signed.  Tell them that they
must either repeal these sections, or you will repeal them at the next
election.  Tell them that this is so important to you that you will go so
far as to VOLUNTEER for a candidate who respects the U.S. Constitution.
Demand to see some action immediately.

Send these three letters (and another to the President, if you like) as
soon as possible.

Next, if you want to go futher, put pressure on whatever media supply you
with news.  Write or call or fax CNN about this.  Write or email the
networks, the news magazines, the major papers. Forget about things like
radio call-in programs -- except for the call-ins on C-SPAN or CNN, which
do shape opinion in Washington to some extent. Write to computer
superstores and manufacturers insisting that they push for media coverage
and a repeal of the legislation.

Finally, stay informed.  Stay on top of your reps and keep riding them
until you get results.  Fire off a several faxes a week, if necessary.
After all, you're competing against some pretty large money -- but you've
still got some leverage, as long as you've got a vote.  If they are
willing to ignore the Bill of Rights, be willing yourself to organize all
of your neighbors into voting them out of office.

Don't let TV newspeople, politicians, and judges take over your power by
default.  If enough people take this kind of simple action, we're certain
to start seeing some results -- then we can take inspiration from that,
and make the final push to squash this outrageous insult.

If not, we're going to get exactly what we deserve.

Don Coyote
mailto:doncoyote@wi.net
http://members.aol.com/doncoyote/politics.html