6 ms·

I wish we could vote this guy out of office. Unfortunately, with his big money backers, I doubt he'll be leaving anytime soon.

by pvnick 14y ago

saraid216 14y ago
It might be kind of interesting to form an internet hit squad. Identify politicians we want voted out of office, and analyze their constituency and potential people to replace them, and then descend upon their district en masse to convince the voters to back someone else. I don't know if it's feasible, but I think it would be interesting to at least see what it would take.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- davidw 14y ago
  It's called a lobby. There are all kinds of them out there to study: NRA, pro/anti abortion, doctors, lawyers, unions, and so on and so forth.
  - saraid216 14y ago
    Actually, what I meant was that people would actually talk to the voters themselves. That's not lobbying; that's campaigning.
    - davidw 14y ago
      Lobbying groups do that too: the US is a democracy, so influencing voters directly is a useful approach at times.
- kbd 14y ago
  Sheriff Mack was "the Internet's" candidate of choice to run against Smith. Unfortunately he lost the primary, with Smith winning nearly 80% of the vote. It really bothered me to the primary results so skewed in Smith's favor. Most of the people who pulled the trigger for him probably either never heard of SOPA, or if they had, didn't know he was the bill's sponsor. (Not that his malfeasance is limited to SOPA, of course.)
  - jewbacca 14y ago
    I saw this in a discussion yesterday: his district is heavily gerrymandered http://lamarsmith.house.gov/District/InteractiveMap.htm http://lamarsmith.house.gov/District/InteractiveMap.htm and he's been in office for 25 years, winning by a large margin every time. I'm not sure what even a fully-engaged angry internet mob could do about that.
    - zecho 14y ago
      Form a crowdfunded corporation and direct mail every household in his district to annoyance until his district removes him.
      - SoftwareMaven 14y ago
        Hmm. A daily direct-mail, direct-phone, etc campaign that appears to come from him (paid for by The Committee to Teach about Lamar Smith), until people can't stand the thought of his name anymore. It doesn't have to be a hate-campaign. Make it reasonable, just non-stop. I wonder if that could work or if it would backfire.
  - saraid216 14y ago
    To me, this means that "the Internet" has no idea who the voters who voted for Smith are, and why my idea was specifically focused on finding out.
- pvnick 14y ago
  I would donate money to the "anti-Lamar-Smith" fund. Perhaps we could fund a couple billboards in his area. Would be very nice as a way to send a clear message to other politicians stupid enough to pull these stunts.
  - flyt 14y ago
    This already happened and Smith won the primary with an overwhelming majority.
  - mtgx 14y ago
    It's been already done by http://www.reddit.com/r/rpac http://www.reddit.com/r/rpac. They still lost. A couple of billboards are not enough to change the minds of the people who have been voting for him term after term. Plus, most probably weren't even aware of what he did/or didn't care.
    - crisnoble 14y ago
      >They still lost. FWIW it was only the primary.
      - deleted 14y ago
        [deleted]
  - AgentConundrum 14y ago
    > I would donate money to the "anti-Lamar-Smith" fund. Perhaps we could fund a couple billboards in his area. This happened. "Reddit's" Political Action Committee, "Test Pac", was raising funds to put billboards all over his district[1]. I'm not sure if that was aimed more at the primary, which Smith won, or at the general election. I think it's the latter. Breadpig also raised funds for a billboard around the time of the primary[2], and I believe there actually was a billboard up in the district as a result of this. It may still be up. [1] http://www.testpacpleaseignore.org/unseatlamar/ http://www.testpacpleaseignore.org/unseatlamar/ [2] https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/dont-mess-with-the-internet-billboard-in-lamar-smiths-home-district#openinternet https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/dont-mess-with-the-inter...
msluyter 14y ago
His district is comprised of rural areas and wealthier parts of Austin/SA in a republican state, so that seems highly unlikely unless he somehow alienates his base and faces a strong republican challenger.
- akulbe 14y ago
  Please don't make the assumption that just because Texas is Republican state, that other Republican / conservatives are in support of this bill! I'm a conservative, and there is no way that I want to see this bill or any lesser / related version of this bill be passed EVER.
  - msluyter 14y ago
    I'm not making that assumption, but perhaps I am assuming/implying that this issue isn't enough on the radar of most republicans to have much of an impact in a primary race. And as noted by waterlesscloud, a democrat can't win this district.
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  It's an interesting test. Reddit / "the internet" would have to find a candidate who could win in that district that they could support. It would involve some serious value judgments and compromises (a liberal dem is not going to get elected there), and my bet would be that they simply are not capable of it in the end.
drostie 14y ago
Perhaps after this, his corporate backers will realize that the Internet is scrutinizing his actions too much for him to ram through their unpleasant legislation, and will find a new hero. Okay so it's not the justice you get in a Hollywood movie, I admit. Thus I think the solution to both problems is to stop watching Hollywood movies. ^_^;;

I wish we could vote this guy out of office. Unfortunately, with his big money backers, I doubt he'll be leaving anytime soon.

by pvnick 14y ago

I wish we could vote this guy out of office. Unfortunately, with his big money backers, I doubt he'll be leaving anytime soon.

saraid216 14y ago

It might be kind of interesting to form an internet hit squad. Identify politicians we want voted out of office, and analyze their constituency and potential people to replace them, and then descend upon their district en masse to convince the voters to back someone else. I don't know if it's feasible, but I think it would be interesting to at least see what it would take.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
davidw 14y ago
It's called a lobby. There are all kinds of them out there to study: NRA, pro/anti abortion, doctors, lawyers, unions, and so on and so forth.
- saraid216 14y ago
  Actually, what I meant was that people would actually talk to the voters themselves. That's not lobbying; that's campaigning.
  - davidw 14y ago
    Lobbying groups do that too: the US is a democracy, so influencing voters directly is a useful approach at times.
kbd 14y ago
Sheriff Mack was "the Internet's" candidate of choice to run against Smith. Unfortunately he lost the primary, with Smith winning nearly 80% of the vote. It really bothered me to the primary results so skewed in Smith's favor. Most of the people who pulled the trigger for him probably either never heard of SOPA, or if they had, didn't know he was the bill's sponsor. (Not that his malfeasance is limited to SOPA, of course.)
- jewbacca 14y ago
  I saw this in a discussion yesterday: his district is heavily gerrymandered http://lamarsmith.house.gov/District/InteractiveMap.htm http://lamarsmith.house.gov/District/InteractiveMap.htm and he's been in office for 25 years, winning by a large margin every time. I'm not sure what even a fully-engaged angry internet mob could do about that.
  - zecho 14y ago
    Form a crowdfunded corporation and direct mail every household in his district to annoyance until his district removes him.
    - SoftwareMaven 14y ago
      Hmm. A daily direct-mail, direct-phone, etc campaign that appears to come from him (paid for by The Committee to Teach about Lamar Smith), until people can't stand the thought of his name anymore. It doesn't have to be a hate-campaign. Make it reasonable, just non-stop. I wonder if that could work or if it would backfire.
- saraid216 14y ago
  To me, this means that "the Internet" has no idea who the voters who voted for Smith are, and why my idea was specifically focused on finding out.
pvnick 14y ago
I would donate money to the "anti-Lamar-Smith" fund. Perhaps we could fund a couple billboards in his area. Would be very nice as a way to send a clear message to other politicians stupid enough to pull these stunts.
- flyt 14y ago
  This already happened and Smith won the primary with an overwhelming majority.
- mtgx 14y ago
  It's been already done by http://www.reddit.com/r/rpac http://www.reddit.com/r/rpac. They still lost. A couple of billboards are not enough to change the minds of the people who have been voting for him term after term. Plus, most probably weren't even aware of what he did/or didn't care.
  - crisnoble 14y ago
    >They still lost. FWIW it was only the primary.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
- AgentConundrum 14y ago
  > I would donate money to the "anti-Lamar-Smith" fund. Perhaps we could fund a couple billboards in his area. This happened. "Reddit's" Political Action Committee, "Test Pac", was raising funds to put billboards all over his district[1]. I'm not sure if that was aimed more at the primary, which Smith won, or at the general election. I think it's the latter. Breadpig also raised funds for a billboard around the time of the primary[2], and I believe there actually was a billboard up in the district as a result of this. It may still be up. [1] http://www.testpacpleaseignore.org/unseatlamar/ http://www.testpacpleaseignore.org/unseatlamar/ [2] https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/dont-mess-with-the-internet-billboard-in-lamar-smiths-home-district#openinternet https://www.crowdtilt.com/campaigns/dont-mess-with-the-inter...

msluyter 14y ago

His district is comprised of rural areas and wealthier parts of Austin/SA in a republican state, so that seems highly unlikely unless he somehow alienates his base and faces a strong republican challenger.

akulbe 14y ago
Please don't make the assumption that just because Texas is Republican state, that other Republican / conservatives are in support of this bill! I'm a conservative, and there is no way that I want to see this bill or any lesser / related version of this bill be passed EVER.
- msluyter 14y ago
  I'm not making that assumption, but perhaps I am assuming/implying that this issue isn't enough on the radar of most republicans to have much of an impact in a primary race. And as noted by waterlesscloud, a democrat can't win this district.
waterlesscloud 14y ago
It's an interesting test. Reddit / "the internet" would have to find a candidate who could win in that district that they could support. It would involve some serious value judgments and compromises (a liberal dem is not going to get elected there), and my bet would be that they simply are not capable of it in the end.

drostie 14y ago

Perhaps after this, his corporate backers will realize that the Internet is scrutinizing his actions too much for him to ram through their unpleasant legislation, and will find a new hero. Okay so it's not the justice you get in a Hollywood movie, I admit. Thus I think the solution to both problems is to stop watching Hollywood movies. ^_^;;