The sponsors of this bill break down as 16 Democrats to 11 Republicans. How does that work out to "mostly republicans"? It appears that this has support from both parties, and I think casting it as a party issue will weaken opposition.
"Thankfully, political leaders concerned about liberty, innovation and due process have stood up in opposition to this proposal. Senator Ron Wyden, a moderate Democrat from Oregon, has courageously put a hold on the Senate bill because of his concerns about the bill’s infringement of free speech and stifling of innovation.
“This is a question of whether the content sector can use the government as club to go after the innovation sector and everything it represents,” said Wyden at a recent Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. “This is a cluster bomb where you should be going in with a laser, and the collateral damage to innovation and freedom is huge.”
Additionally, Tea Party leaders like Michelle Bachman have said it is inconsistent with Tea Party values. Consumer groups, legal scholars, venture capitalists, leading entrepreneurs, Internet scientists and YouTube users have all joined in opposition."
Basically, it's less a Left versus Right issue and more an insider versus outsider one. (Though I will point out that the only person who has apparently put much effort into stopping it is a Democrat...)
Ok, it's bipartisan, but the only meaningful opposition has come from democrats, and the entire political spectrum of "anti government" has lined up behind it. I'm just saying breaking everything down to "government" is a ridiculous tagline that obfuscates more than it helps.
I mean, even if this is approved, it's basically the government doing extremely cheap contract work for the companies who'd benefit. I have a problem with it being done, period, if the ISPs formed a cartel with the MPAA to do this without the government it'd be just as bad.
Some of the think tanks on all sides are alright, but most legislators on both sides ignore the principled argument as soon as the established industry weighs in. That's the problem. I said it was a bipartisan failure in my last comment.
