RedState's Erick Erickson Pledges to Take Out Conservatives Who Support SOPA
Republican kingmaker Erick Erickson has written an incredible piece on the Stop Online Piracy Act, in which he promises to fund a primary challenge to Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-LaLa Land) solely for being the kind of incomprehensible hypocrite who opposes net neutrality and then supports something equally as bad, if not worse:
I love Marsha Blackburn. She is a delightful lady and a solidly conservative member of Congress.
And I am pledging right now that I will do everything in my power to defeat her in her 2012 re-election bid.
I wonder if the left feels that way about Debbie Wasserman Schultz?
Both Marsha Blackburn and Debbie Wasserman Schults, the head of the Democratic National Committee and a Congresswoman from Florida, are cosponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act.
The Act intends to stop online piracy. The way the Act goes about doing this is, in large part, allowing Eric Holder to take control of the internet and shut down websites he does not like. It is a totalitarian response from a bipartisan coalition of Congresscritters most of whom admit they have no freaking idea how the internet even works. Don't believe me?
In a committee hearing on SOPA, co-sponsor Mel Watts (D-NC) was really open about itsaying, "I'm not a nerd" before proceeding to admit he understood nothing about the law, how the internet worked, or pretty much anything else related to it.
The legislation originated with Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX). As Neil Stevens explained in detail here the legislation will wreck terrible havoc on the internet. There is an alternative called the OPEN Act, which stands for Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act. The OPEN Act accomplishes what SOPA intends to accomplish without handing Eric Holder the power to shut down websites that make him unhappy. Another big difference is that SOPA is backed by rich men in Hollywood and the OPEN Act is backed by people who actually use the internet and know how it works.
Erickson even offers to do some coalition-building:
A fund should be created and the left should go out and find candidates to take on the Democrat sponsors. The right should go out and find candidates to take on the Republican sponsors. Heck, maybe Act Blue would let us on the right come by and we can all use their pre-existing platform (a platform no one on the right has even been able to really compete with. Seriously, I'm a big admirer).
The money should then be used to fund the primary challenges against the incumbent sponsors of SOPA. Let the right vet and direct the funding on the right so no one thinks the left is trying to pick the challenger and vice-versa on the left.
This might mean some allies are taken out. It might mean we take out Marsha Blackburn on the right and Debbie Wasserman Schultz on the left.
But sometimes a fight is that important. Killing SOPA is that important. Letting the Attorney General of the United States shut down the internet as he wants, whether it be Eric Holder or a future John Ashcroft, should scare the mess out of every American.