Quote:
Originally Posted by Kali Yuga
Not to get too far off topic but... If you don't communicate with your elected officials, how are they supposed to know that their constituents object to a proposed law? Telepathy?
I'm not saying a single email is the equivalent of a $100,000 fund-raiser, but it doesn't take much effort, and it's more effective than you think.
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When we had similar over-the-top laws proposed in the UK, millions of people contacted their MP to point out that removing the presumption of innocence and putting the burden of proof on the accused rather than the accuser was a big mistake. As was introducing collective punishment for families where one member of the family (may have) broken the law.
When it came time for the MPs to discuss the new law in full, only 4 of the thousands of MPs bothered to turn up, and only one of those actually seemed to have any idea what the law was about. One of them even thought an IP address was the URL of a website that contained pirate music. After the "discussion", all the other MPs piled in from the free bar they had been hiding in and voted in favour of the new law.
It later turned out that the BPI (our version of the RIAA) had written parts of the new law, specifically the parts about no longer needing any evidence of wrongdoing.
So no, lobbying your elected representatives is entirely pointless unless you can match or beat the other lobbyists' financial incentives. Money always talks louder than banners.