Comments on: The coming crackdown on blogging

Federal Election Commissioner Bradley Smith says the freewheeling days of political expression on the Internet may be about to end.

[tumbleweed05]

Bigger Dreams Needed!

There were a lot of smart Democratics and smart Republicans who voted to keep the blogs "Fed Free", but not enough votes.

With so many Secretaries of State purging so many voters from the rolls, with 2,000,000 to 3,000,000
voters not getting their votes counted because they are "spoiled" (could you imagine retailers or businesses putting up with that? Yet we accept it for "free" elections), with the very very questionable results in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, it is time to realize that bigger dreams
are needed!

So blogs might get regulated?

OK. Then use the blogs for something new, something unintended and imaginative.

If the regs say no links, then have no links. If money donated to blogs has to be reported, then make your blogs run strictly out of your own pocket money.

Blogs, I think, will always be able to have FREE SPEECH, and be able to talk up or diss candidates or events or politicians freely.

So they will probably be more fluid, more imaginative, less regulated than Parties.

The 2 Parties actually came up with this system that allows minorities to be "legally" disenfranchised. So why don't we go beyond Parties? Isn't that what blogs do?

A Blog is a "political party of one", in a way.

Blogs (if these regs are in place) will be able to do anything political except run candidates, link to candidates, or take money.

So a BLOG is really a "FREE PARTY". It doesn't need thousands of signatures to become a "legally" recognized Party, the Secretary of State can never "decertify" a blog like it can a Party.

The Blog never has to worry about raising money.

The Blog can say the truth as much as it wants to, as often as it wants to.

The Blog can expose the truth, and rally opinion!

Maybe if Parties are obselete and clueless, then Blogs are hyper-modern and very knwoledgeable!

Maybe we can build a new democracy! Not a "dollarocracy" which easily runs figure eights around McCain-Feingold and accounts for the expensive campaigns that heavily favors incumbents.

Maybe our new "Ultra-Democracy" will consist of independent candidates, independent blogs and nonprofits and 501-c-4s that re-enfranchise everyone!

Wanna see how Congress messes up with bad laws and 3 trillion dollar budgets? We all see that. Maybe our ultra-Democracies can do BETTER than that, simply by BUILDING a vision, and including everyone who wants to be in on it, and maybe do it for 3 million a year (or less!)

The more the Federal government tries to change things, the more complicated and restrictive things get.

Think of the Blogs maybe as the committees of correspondence in the era when American white males rallied against King George!

Think of Blogs as unlimited communicating tools, like a radio station (if you link it to your own Podcasting station), unlimited print media, and unlimited organizing and rallying media!

Sure, the regs will have some restrictions, but the FREEDOM of the blogs will still way outweigh
the "old" traditional way of running candidates
every 2 years for millions of dollars a pop.

This is a new way, a way of using little or no money, and we are the pioneers!

(For info on Ultra Democracy, see my blog at:
http://www.angelfire.com/sd2/105/udo/ )

[abitcrazy]

Exit America

I utterly agree. We are on the verge of a dictatorship and sorrow that only fiction has outlined in the past. I wish I were financially able to leave, but I am not. I beleive that when these destructive neo-cons have finished decimating our country, bankrupting the public funds, seen the collapse of public services in the face of ANY disaster, they will flee like those who were able during hurricane Katrina, and the rest of us will be like those rounded up like cattle in the dome in New Orleans. That is what America will be like. The wealthy and privileged will flee to other countries with their off-shore tax-sheltered monies intact. I am sickened every single day. Listen to Air America Radio to learn more!

[PaschalEze]

The Black Blogging Manifesto

I found this very informative, especially since I belong to both the journalism world and the blogging world.
Being a proponent of self-regulation in the media, and pursuant to a better Black blogging terrain, I have developed what I call "The Black Blogging Manifesto" which is available free of charge at http://Blackvertiser.com/blog.
Paschal
http://blackvertiser.com

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[Chris_the_Conservative]

The whole point of limiting campaign donations is to prevent those with money and power from using it to manipulate the political system. It's to make sure that "free speech" is something available to everyone, and make sure one person's free speech during the election season isn't worth more than someone else's.

I think it's a good idea to take steps to make sure that money and special interests aren't what drives campaigns.

However, there is one major reason not to limit links from blogs.

When a person donates money online, that money is not coming from the blogger. It's coming from the reader. The blogger is not making the contribution. The reader is. That's perfectly proper and ethical.

The question becomes whether a corporation is funding the blog. Then, the issue becomes whether or not companies are allowed to give money to operations that engage in political speech. Personally, I think this is a much more burning question than whether a blogger's private website links to a campaign.

The best way to settle the whole thing would be for the FEC to establish approved types of service for hosting providers, for people engaging in political speech. Then, the cost of the web hosting could be easily established as a campaign contribution, and easily regulated.

I think it's important for government to take steps to ensure that those with money and power can't use it to manipulate the political process. They just need to do it in a positive way, that prevents the unwanted behaviors, while placing as few limits on free speech as possible to reach the desired goal.

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I beleive that when these destructive neo-cons have finished decimating our country, bankrupting the public funds, seen the collapse of public services in the face of ANY disaster, they will flee like those who were able during hurricane Katrina, and the rest of us will be like those rounded up like cattle in the dome in New Orleans. That is what America will be like. The wealthy and privileged will flee to other countries with their off-shore tax-sheltered monies intact. I am sickened every single day. Listen to Air America Radio to learn more!
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