Save Democracy

I decided not to take my site down for Protest SOPA Day.

Instead, I want my site to do two things today: (1) provide links to sites with more information about the effort to defeat SOPA; and (2) offer a brief comment about how SOPA is symptomatic of our broken democracy.

Here are links about SOPA and the protest against it:

• http://eff2.salsalabs.com/o/9042/images/stop-the-internet-blacklist.html
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more
• http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2012/01/i-want-avc-to-go-dark-on-the-18th.html

Here's my comment:

Before SOPA, there was PROTECT IP. After defeating SOPA and PIPA, there will be something else - unless we fix our government.

The overarching problem is that the US Congress is controlled by money, and the money is corporate.

Ninety-four percent of the legislative sponsors of SOPA received payments in the current election cycle from Time-Warner, Comcast, and/or the National Cable & Telecommunications Association. The corruption is bipartisan in nature, too; a top Democrat seems as able to exact tribute for the bill as its Republican sponsor.

The corporations are not evil. They are doing what corporations are supposed to do. (Which of us, were she the CEO of a big media company, wouldn't take every legal advantage? Shareholders expect that, and should.)

The fault, rather, lies with natural persons: the Congress people who sell out, who don't expect more of themselves; the citizens who put up with lobbying, and advertising, and don't expect more of their country.

Tea party, #occupy, defeat SOPA - may they all coalesce.

Photo by Kevin Dooley.