
Ask Sen. Wyden to read your name during his Protect IP filibuster - trusche
http://stopcensorship.org/
======
eli
Unless something really exceptional takes place, it isn't necessary to
literally hold the floor and read names (or anything else) in order to
filibuster. There is effectively a gentleman's agreement that if there's the
intent to filibuster, it's as good as doing the deed.

~~~
corin_
Him _actually_ doing it, and reading a list of names of people who support
him, turns standard process into publicity.

~~~
eli
But there's no need or opportunity. The bill has a hold on it, so it will
probably not come up for vote.

~~~
untog
No, there is no need. But there _is_ an opportunity for publicity for the
cause.

~~~
eli
No, I mean there literally isn't an opportunity. The bill won't be scheduled
for a vote if he has a hold on it. Should he filibuster an unrelated bill?

~~~
untog
...but the hold itself is an opportunity for publicity. I don't understand
what could be confusing about that.

------
zheng
This is an honest question that I realize will seem very tin-foil hatty, but I
can't seem to brush it off.

Does anyone ever worry that doing something like this (supplying your name,
email, etc.) will come back to bite you later? Say, in 15 years if the
American government by some twist outlaws decent. Does anyone worry that you
might be persecuted?

~~~
cwp
Not to be pedantic, but it's "dissent." This seems to get spelled wrong a lot.

~~~
grandpa
Not pedantic: I really didn't understand what outlawing decent would mean. I
pronounce 'dissent' and 'decent' quite differently.

------
filiwickers
This is very important and a great use of a filibuster. Help Senator Wyden to
stop this bill!

~~~
grandpa
As a non American, this confuses me. If I've understood it correctly, a
filibuster is a way to suspend the normal democratic process when you don't
like the way a vote is likely to turn out. I just can't find a way to think of
that as a good thing. Am I missing something? Why do people like filibusters?

~~~
tansey
The power of a filibuster is that it forces the opposition to experience pain,
slowdown, and increased public scrutiny. It prevents bills from being passed
quickly and silently. However, it's a risky move on the part of the
filibustering senator, as continued use will cause the lawmaking process to
grind to a halt and potentially cost you the next election. It's thus only
wise to use it sparingly and when the public is clearly on your side.

~~~
noahc
This isn't necessarily true. The senate has a 'two-track' system that allows
them to move on and address other issues where they have two bills on the
floor at the same time.

------
NHQ
crowdbusting congress.

i like it.

edit: call it a wikifilibuster

------
gcb
How effective is this tactic?

i don't know how i would feel if someone stand up to speak against some law i
sympathize (eg reduction of political benefits) and waste days reading
cookbooks just to fuck everything up.

~~~
sukuriant
It's been used for ... ever. So it must have some proper effect.

------
suivix
I don't click on links like this one. Usually they are heavily biased in one
direction and aren't worth reading.

~~~
trusche
Then you shouldn't comment on it and thereby make it more popular.

But in all seriousness, of course there is a bias here. That's not a bad thing
by itself. If you never read biased articles, I have to wonder how you form an
opinion on anything. No offense intended, but all you've just said is that you
have a prejudice against something you admitted to not reading.

------
justindz
If only they'd let you sign up for these things for only the immediate purpose
and not be sent other "important campaign" emails. I would be cool with
someone reading and trying to pronounce my name (incidentally, failing
miserably) as part of a filibuster here. But I wouldn't want a single other
email beyond that point.

~~~
geoffschmidt
If you're a campaign manager, the reason you run a "sign my petition" appeal
like this is usually to build up a mailing list, not because you think anyone
with power will actually care much about your petition. Petitions are cheap.

Then you execute step two, where you leverage that list to get people to do
things that you think will actually affect the issue, like making phone calls
(to legislators or to voters) or sending in money for media buys.

It is true that getting all that email is irritating. But if you're the
average busy citizen, the best way to help is to find a group of organizers
you trust, get on their list, and then do the little bite-sized things they
ask you to do.

------
AndrewWarner
Oh, I've done interviews about pages like this.

Politicians use them to collect email addresses. I don't think they have to
operate under the same anti-spam rules as the rest of us. So they use big
issues like this to harvest emails.

~~~
dsl
You should read up on what DemandProgress.org is (they are the group behind
this site), before making such claims.
<http://blog.demandprogress.org/mission/>

