There are only three weeks left until the primary for Lamar Smith, the author of the censorship bill SOPA. Smith has pissed off almost the entire Reddit community and they are relentless — even to the point of starting a TestPAC and their eyes are set squarely on Smith. Never, ever fuck with Reddit.
Smith is aware of the TestPac through reporters and he should be nervous – In just 24 hours, they’ve donated $6,000 almost $7,000 over $8,000 (damn Reddit!) for expenses — their goal was initially $5,000 for fliers and signs distributed in Smith’s backyard and a commercial is already made but still needs airtime.
Mike450 wrote in a SOPA post on Reddit, “SOPA may be “dead”, but Lamar Smith is still trying to push through PCIP, another bill which would threaten the privacy of any web user. Think CISPA..but worse.” So Mike450 had an idea and titled it, “If all 14,824 subscribers of r/SOPA donated $5 to defeat Lamar Smith, TestPAC could run our TV commercial 329 times in his district.”
Today, they are launching their field campaign led by Andy Posterick the treasurer for TestPAC. Andy drove 12 hours to Kerrville, Texas to sink his teeth into the campaign effort along with 10 volunteers handing out fliers and interacting with voters to raise awareness in general.
We are stepping out from behind our keyboards and monitors and getting out into the streets. We are making it happen, and we are here in TX-21 every weekend for the next 3 weeks.
Signing petitions and emailing your representative is a crucial first step when bills like SOPA, PCIP and CISPA are being discussed in Congress. However, it doesn’t end there. That isn’t enough. It is our responsibility as supporters of net neutrality, freedom and privacy on the internet to follow through and start holding politicians accountable for their bad legislation. TestPAC was formed as a mechanism to allow average citizens like us to do that.
What you can do to be a part of this amazing effort:
Send a clear message to supporters of Censorship that the power of the people is far greater than their own special interests. If Smith is voted out, the others will surely follow.
Don’t sit back and let others change our flawed system for you — be a part of the change. In following Mike450′d lead, If 1,000 readers of this article donated just $5.00 each, we’d add greatly to this amazing effort.