[CLUE-Talk] The government wants to ignore you.

[Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier]

What follows is a bit of a rant. That's to say that I haven't really
even tried to make a pass at making this a well-formed argument yet.
Yet.

There is, at least in my opinion, a big problem brewing: The Forest
Service is trying to pass a rule that would allow them to ignore e-mail
from Web forms and postcards -- basically requiring anyone who wants to
comment on a public issue to write an "original" letter (not sure what
the criteria would be for "original").

Right now, it's just the Forest Service, but I could see this being
adopted by other federal and state agencies -- if that happens, it will
seriously hamper efforts by open source projects and groups like the EFF
to rally opposition or support for issues.

I know -- how much time does it take to write a letter, right? Well,
think about this -- most of us have jobs that consume at least forty
hours a week - then we have social lives (I hope) and possibly families
that require attention. Most of us like to eat occasionally, shower
(again, I hope), read a book, take a walk, watch a movie, and even use
our computers for recreation -- in other words, people are damn busy. 

And there are a lot of political issues that require attention. A lot.
Removing the ability to register your position through a Web form or by
sending a pre-printed postcard is, in effect, an effort to reduce public
activism by reducing the amount of time that each person has to comment
on public policy. I'm not sure if it would rise to the level of being a
restriction of freedom of speech or not -- I think a tricky lawyer could
make a case for it, but this early in the morning I'm having a hard
time. 

I know that many Cluebies differ strongly on a lot of political issues
-- but I think that if you're willing to take even a little time to fire
off a letter or post card or e-mail, even through a Web form, that your
opinion should be counted. I don't think there should be an effort
requirement -- I don't care what your opinion is, I just find efforts to
disregard it dangerous. 

Here's why -- any well-funded group can afford to have lobbyists and so
on working on an issue full-time. Citizens who might oppose some of
those issues don't have the luxury of that kind of time, and we need
tools like Webforms to be able to voice our opinions and to try to steer
our government the way we the people want it to go. Removing those
tools, but allowing lobbyists and such, is a definite blow to our
rights. 

There's an article about this here:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/5695813.htm

Thoughts?

Zonker
-- 
Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier
jzb at dissociatedpress.net
Aim: zonkerjoe
http://www.dissociatedpress.net