[79303] in Cypherpunks
Re: Rejecting Dialog with Government Vermin
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Declan McCullagh)
Wed Apr 30 09:30:33 1997
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 1997 06:00:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
To: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Cc: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
In-Reply-To: <v0300780faf8c8b93d706@[207.167.93.63]>
Reply-To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
On Tue, 29 Apr 1997, Tim May wrote:
> Exactly. This is how folks get pulled into the Whole Sick System. They
> realize there is no alternative except to Play the Game.
Yep. DC is about power. It's okay to question who should have it (though
Republicans or Democrats are your only choices), but it's almost unheard
of to question whether any of 'em should have it at all. And rewards are
given to those who Play the Game. For instance, I was interviewing some
FCC commissioners recently for an upcoming article in a widely-read print
mag, and the agency wanted the article to tilt their way. A week later I
found my name on the posh invite list to black-tie dinners with the
commissioners. That's access, folks, and it's responsible for a good
portion of a journalistic success. If you don't have it, your articles
suffer.
> The few "dissident" lobbyist groups, like the NRA and Cato, survive only by
> being entertaining court jesters for evening television, sound bite
> generators for "Crossfire" and "Nightline." Thus, the NRA replaces its
> leadership with more media-entertaining, soundbite-generating spokesbimbos.
Cato and the NRA survive by being dissident voices, so they can be the
token figure of opposition when a Congressional committee decides how much
to raise taxes or regulate the Net. They serve that purpose for
journalists too. They survive financially by appealing to donors outside
the Beltway and by ad-hoc alliances with Republicans and Democrats on
individual issues.
> The ACLU is, sad to say, a net detractor of basic rights. They fail to
> understand the importance of so many things....too large an issue to get
> into right now.
The ACLU has its problems, certainly. Civil rights laws, gun control, to
name two. The individual chapters are often more aggressive than the
national. But they're often the only group to speak out when it comes to
privacy, censorship, overbroad child porn laws, "anti-terrorist" measures,
and other such measures that would limit freedom.
-Declan
