Political Intrigue!
The latest anti-videogame bill (co-written by the wannabe King of Torts himself, Wacky Jacky Thompson) in Louisiana has just been blocked by a U.S. District judge. Apparently applying fuzzy, subjective definitions to violence in videogames and then throwing it in a bin labed 'porn' just isn't going to cut Constitutional mustard. The politicians keep sending up these horrible laws, and so far the industry has managed to keep knocking them down. But we shouldn't have to.

I'm fairly convinced, after seeing some of the deception that took place with a similar bill that almost passed here in Utah, that the politicians really don't give a crap about the real issues, but are simply garnering "family values" points that seem to be free of political consequences. After all, only children play videogames, and children don't vote, right?

But you've heard me rant about this before. Once or Twice (*GRIN*). Ranting on a blog is all fun and everything, but this year we took things a little bit further and contributed in a hopefully-not-too-insignificant way to givin' the ol' First Amendment a hand.

Crashing the Party Party
I found out that David Hogue, who sponsored the Utah bill that lumped violent videogames into the "Materials Harmful to Minors" (read: pornography) law, was running for the state Senate the same day they were having the Republican Caucus meetings here in Utah. Well, I'm not a Republican. But I figured I'd do what I could to help get him removed from any position of authority so he could threaten more harm.

So I crashed the Republican Party party. It was just around the corner, at my neighbor's house. So my wife and I, having NO clue what to expect (I vaguely remembered hearing about how those worked in a political science class in college and a civics class in High School), showed up. There was free food and lots of fliers and handouts. Oh, and a request for donations. Knowing that the donations could go to support Orrin Hatch's bid for re-election, I didn't donate.

Every time they said, "fellow Republicans," I felt a twinge of guilt. I'm not from a rival party trying to spy on anyone or anything (like that would have done any good!) I'm just independent. I had heard that you didn't NEED to be a registered Republican to attend these meetings, but as the meeting continued I began to worry if you could go to Federal prison for Impersonating a Republican.

Fortunately, the rules were reiterated so I could breathe a sigh of relief. You did NOT need to be a registered Republican in order to participate in this caucus meeting, but if you were elected as an officer or a delegate, you had to either be a member or sign up for the Republican party at the end of the meeting. I deferred. However, I did get to cast my vote for delegates and officers, and I was asked to help count the ballots after the votes. BOY did that feel weird. Fortunately, we had no pregnant chads or hanging chads or anything like that. The worst we had to deal with was some really sloppy handwriting, but that was my own vote, so we were eventually able to make it out.

And - most excitingly - I was able to speak up on what I thought was the most troubling issue: The rash of anti-videogame laws that fail to solve the problem, threaten to cripple a growing U.S. industry, and the very questionable actions that had been taken to try and force them to pass. The rest of the people in the room looked at me a little puzzled, as they were all there to argue about policies about public schools and stuff, and here I was bringing up videogames right out-of-the-freaking blue. But they politely asked me some appropriate questions, and didn't treat me like anyone's idiot nephew. And if videogames weren't on anyone's radar before, at least they were aware that there was at least ONE complaint out there.

I left the meeting feeling very, I don't know... civic? And I figured we'd done our little tiny insignificant bit to help preserve a new creative and artistic medium. And there were a couple of delegates that we'd elected that learned that this was an issue that their neighbors cared about.

And We Get To Be Even More Political
The GREAT news was that whether or not my emotional speech to our delegates from our little corner of the district had any bearing or not, Hogue failed in his state senate bid. Not a big surprise, going up against an incumbent.

Because we put our name and phone number on a piece of paper at that meeting, we're getting calls by a bunch of campaign groups who are basically doing "market research." They often ask us what we consider the biggest issues for this election. I guess they figure we're politically active now, and suddenly we've become important. Now if only we'd contribute money to them, I'm betting we'd be a lot more important.

We tell 'em. Preserving the first amendment and freedom of expression for videogames is usually not on their list. But hopefully, after my wife and I have given them an earful, it might be put ON a couple of lists.

A Visit From A Candidate
Saturday, we were visited in person by Carl Wimmer, who is running for Hogue's soon-to-be-vacated seat. His opponent, Dennis Sampson, is an old friend of David Hogue's, and Hogue is acting as Sampson's campaign manager. My wife got a chance to speak with Mr. Wimmer at length on our porch. Not so subtley, she brought up the question of his stance on videogames and all this legislation attempting to regulate it.

Wimmer, a longtime law-enforcement officer, said that he was opposed to violent videogames, but he believes the government has no right to try and regulate it. Which is how we feel. I mean, sheesh - nobody in their right mind wants to see gruesomely violent videogames being sold to children! That is not what this is about. It's about the "chilling effect" of government regulation on a powerful new medium of expression.

Between Wimmer's response, and the fact that he's running against David "Videogames are porn!" Hogue's chosen replacement, we decided to let him put his sign on our lawn. Of course, we're in a cul-de-sac so I don't know if very many people will actually SEE this sign unless they have gotten very lost or have driven all the way to our house just to see a sign next to our mailbox. But hey, it's there. Maybe that's why all our Democrat-leaning friends never visit us anymore...

But I am hoping that in a very tiny way, the anti-videogame stance is hurting some politicians in this election.

And maybe next time I'll crash the Democrats' caucus meeting. My wife can hit the Republican one (I think she's actually registered). We can compare notes, and see which one served better food.

Labels: Politics

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 11:07 PM (Permalink)