List of every member of congress who supports SOPA, sortable by donations • Hacker News Board

Re: List of every member of congress who supports SOPA, sortable by donations

#121

Post by nyellin » Mon, Jan 09, 2012, 4:41 PM UTC

skizm wrote: post #118

pawn wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a question for my fellow HNers. Is SOPA a big enough deal for you that if Obama actually signs SOPA into law and the Republican nominee is someone who voices opposition to it, you'll vote Republican (for those who typically vote Democrat)?

Very possible since, at this point in time, I'm just looking for the least terrible candidate to get behind. I'm having trouble thus far since all have proved pretty terrible thus far. Unfortunately that is what it comes down to when I vote... the lesser of the two evils.

I know I'm being overtly political and should probably be banned from HN for repeatedly endorsing a candidate, but you have an alternative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_positions_of_Gary_Joh...

Johnson could benefit from an internet-savvy marketer. The campaign seems undermanned and underfunded.

Re: List of every member of congress who supports SOPA, sortable by donations

#122

Post by Steve_Baker » Mon, Jan 09, 2012, 5:18 PM UTC

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #108

Donations of any sort to people running for office should be banned outright without exceptions. It should be worth something to tax payers that politicians cannot be bought.

Politicians already make a lot of their wealth from insider information. Even if you somehow stopped all donations, corporations would just trade more knowledge for favors.

Politicians should be prohibited from direct investment, both during and sometime after serving. Doesn't stop someone from enriching some partners who agree to pay him back at some later date. There probably is no end to the corruption.

I think that letting foreign companies shape our legislation is such a manner ought to considered at best a stones throw from treason.

Re: List of every member of congress who supports SOPA, sortable by donations

#123

Post by snowwrestler » Tue, Jan 10, 2012, 2:09 AM UTC

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #110

brazzy wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Result: instead of donating to their preferred candidate's campaign, donors will now run their own campaign promoting that candidate. Try banning that without running into the First Amendement...

I think banning direct donations would at least make it more difficult for those politicians that are motivated by financial gain. Money can buy all kinds of things, not just campaign ads. Also, running an effective campaign for someone else without central coordination of the message is a lot more difficult than what's going on now. Such campaigns can easily backfire. That's why I think the extent of political corru…

Only a truly stupid person would run for political office in search of financial gain. The level of work is extremely high (hours like a startup) but the amounts of money are small. For instance the average House campaign is just a bit over $1 million, and that funds dozens of people working very long hours for almost a year. Compare to capital funding or revenue levels in business. People willing to work that hard could make a lot more money in almost any industry.

As hokey as it sounds, people get involved in politics because they want to change the world. It is the natural end result of activism like we are seeing around SOPA. It's possible that at some point, someone fighting SOPA will decide to work for a candidate or run for office themselves. At that point they'll need to start raising funds. Will that corrupt them automatically? I don't think so.

Re: List of every member of congress who supports SOPA, sortable by donations

#124

Post by fauigerzigerk » Tue, Jan 10, 2012, 7:48 AM UTC

snowwrestler wrote: post #123

fauigerzigerk wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think banning direct donations would at least make it more difficult for those politicians that are motivated by financial gain. Money can buy all kinds of things, not just campaign ads. Also, running an effective campaign for someone else without central coordination of the message is a lot more difficult than what's going on now. Such campaigns can easily backfire. That's why I think the extent of political corru…

Only a truly stupid person would run for political office in search of financial gain. The level of work is extremely high (hours like a startup) but the amounts of money are small. For instance the average House campaign is just a bit over $1 million, and that funds dozens of people working very long hours for almost a year. Compare to capital funding or revenue levels in business. People willing to work that hard c…

I believe they want to feel the power, they believe they're "serving" the public, making a financial sacrifice exactly because they could earn a lot more outside of politics. I think this combination could lead some of them to believe that they deserve to earn more money for their hard work.

Also, it's not unheard of that some politicians are opportunists without very strong convictions one way or the other. At least that's what I sometimes feel when I hear them talk about stuff in a way that betrays utter incompetence.

Re: List of every member of congress who supports SOPA, sortable by donations

#125

Post by Natsu » Tue, Jan 10, 2012, 9:27 AM UTC

OstiaAntica wrote: post #94

Natsu wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actors possess most of the skills required to get elected. A successful actor starts out being well-liked, well-known and rich. They also have an easy time getting press and experience dealing with them. Knowing what the hell you're doing is, sadly, not required.

There aren't any former actors, other than Franken (who was really a comedian, not an actor), in Congress. So I'm not really sure what you are talking about.

Those limits are a bit arbitrary.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_actor%E2%80%93politici...