From: ronda@ais.org (Ronda Hauben)
Newsgroups: alt.amateur-comp,comp.edu,soc.culture.usa,alt.activism
Subject: Re: Email sent to Congress - then stopped (Was Re: Internet Access...)
Date: 26 Jan 1993 03:48:52 GMT
Organization: UMCC
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: umcc.ais.org
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ronda@ais.org responding:

Robert Kastigar (urkastig@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu) wrote:
: OK, at the suggestion or urging of Ronda and the rest of you

Bob, I want to be clear that I didn't urge you to write the 
letter you wrote. 

I do agree that we should have email access to Congress,
but I don't agree that Congress is denying us this access
because of some computer illiteracy on their part.

Rather, they are constituent illiterate - i.e. they have
no respect for the experiences and wishes of their
constituents - they have taken their offices as license
for privilege and for serving those who pay them well in
exchange.

They want and have had a network for their own purposes -
and have no desire to hear from their constituents.

In their actions on this issue they behave much as the
former Party officials in the former Soviet Union.

Thus it would seem that the fate of the former might 
be a lesson to our similar officials - but it doesn't
seem that is the case.

Instead it seems that they believe they can continue
to ignore the people they are supposed to represent,
even as Clinton recently said - telling us to 
sacrifice so they can continue their Party at our
expense.

Also, the Gore bill it seems is intended to provide 
a network for the commercial world at our expense -

There seems no respect for the importance of the 
interactive communication that Usenet News has
made possible among either the supposed elected
representatives or those pushing for commercial
and private take overs of the fruits of 
millions of dollars of our taxes in research on
the Arpanet, NSFNet and now Internet.

Thus it seems that the deliberate exclusion of us
from access to Congress via electronic mail is
similar to the deliberate efforts to take away
the ability of the commonfolk to publicly comment
on affairs that affect them which the nets
make possible and instead to substitute some
fancy video, sound, barrage to sell us a new
brand of commercials.

Also, the lack of information to the public of 
the many millions of dollars of public 
investment in these networks is very serious.
Thus there now seems an effort to claim that
industry needs a deserved return on its 
investment and thus the networks are to 
be handed over to private or commercial 
parties - rather than the real truth that
the public funds invested means that this
technology belongs to the public and should
not be taken away from the public.

: on the net, I sent the following letters today to my two
: Senators and my representative in the house.
: 
: May I suggest you do the same, or something similar?
: -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
: 
: The Honorable Senator Carol Mosley-Braun
: United State Senate
: Washington, DC 20510
: 
: Dear Senator:
: 
: Computers are very much in use today and growing common.  Within
: this community there is growing concern or interest in access to
: information and ideas from the Federal Government, and from our
: elected government officials.  I've enclosed a copy of an article


Bob, I disagree - We have enough of hearing what Congress has
to say to us. For a change they need to hear what we have to 
say to them. This is the "tail wagging the dog," as UAW pioneers
wrote when they complained about not being allowed to 
criticize UAW union officials.
Xref: sparky alt.amateur-comp:664 comp.theory:2927 comp.misc:5002