You can have my internet after you pry it from my cold dead hard drive!

Quote of the Day: "Liberty is the possibility of doubting, the possibility of making a mistake, the possibility of searching and experimenting, the possibility of saying "No" to any authority -- literary, artistic, philosophic, religious, social and even political." -- Ignazio Silone (1900-1978) Source: The God That Failed, 1950 The politicians are trying to tax the Internet again. Let's stop them. I just sent the letter below using our "Hands Off the Internet" campaign. The hardwired message on this campaign reads . . . "Please oppose any attempts to undermine Internet freedom." To this I added the following personal comments, from which you can copy or borrow . . . I request that you create a form letter to respond to letters like mine on the issue described below . . . I want you to oppose the so-called "Mainstreet Fairness Act." It's only a proposal right now. Yet I will be angry if I see you become a sponsor of this bad bill. Please create a form letter letting your constituents know where you stand. If your letter is vague and wishy-washy, that won't satisfy me. I want you to be clear. This bill would help to impose state sales taxes on Internet purchases. State's already get enough taxes, thank you very much. The problem isn't the lack of taxes, but NO PRUDENCE when it comes to spending money. Limit the money states receive. State politicians will learn prudence. We also need . . . * Tax competition between states, not tax collusion * A free Internet to drive economic recovery -- it ISN'T broken, so we don't need you to fix it Instead of advancing this bill, please take steps to balance the federal budget. That's where your focus should be. I hope to receive a response informing me that you will not endorse this terribly, counterproductive legislation. Either way, please be specific and be clear. END LETTER NOTE: The Mainstreet Fairness Act does not seem to have a bill number yet. We're hitting this one early. If you want to learn more about this bill the Competitive Enterprise Institute has written two informative articles about it: * State Cartel Looking to Hike Internet Taxes                       * An Alternative to California Proposal to Tax E-Commerce You can send your letter to Congress using DownsizeDC.org's Educate the Powerful System. And we encourage you to follow us on Twitter and retweet this Dispatch: http://twitter.com/DDCDispatch Jim Babka President DownsizeDC.org, Inc. D o w n s i z e r - D i s p a t c h Official email newsletter of DownsizeDC.org, Inc. & Downsize DC Foundation. SUPPORT the "Educate the Powerful System".