Power to the people

SOPA and PIPA are dead.  Boingboing has a great infographic about the transformation after the day the internet went dark in protest over the US government bills that were going to destroy or at least maim freedom online.  Enormous numbers of US citizens (and presumably a few people abroad who called in anyway) managed to change the number of Member of Congress opposed to SOPA and PIPA by a huge margin (31 to 101).  While it may be true that individuals can often be entirely powerless in political situations it is clear that people can and do have a tremendous effect when they move as a group.  Those who organized the internet blackout got what they wanted:  The people saw what was going on and made those in power understand that their jobs were forfeit if they pushed SOPA/PIPA through.

One person has little to no power but if you can rally a couple million to your cause you can effect drastic changes.  All you need to do is find enough bodies willing to man the phones to convince the people in power that they must vote for their jobs instead of voting for their bribes.  Hurrah for "democracy"!

Picture taken from boingboing:   http://boingboing.net/2012/01/19/how-the-internet-blackout-affe.html