I Signed Lessig’s Letter
by Patrick Ruffini :: May 4th, 2007 9:20 amThis morning, a new round of signatures was announced to the letter calling on the Republican National Committee to support efforts to make Presidential debate footage freely available on the Internet. I’ve added my name to the letter.
Also signing are Robert Bluey, Matt Margolis, Liz Mair, John Hawkins, and David All. I’ve worked with all of these signatories over the years. More than a couple were intimately involved in the Rightroots effort, which raised over $300,000 for Republican candidates in ‘06. They and others were very helpful to me in my tenure at the RNC and Bush-Cheney ‘04. They are the best friends the Republican Party has in the blogosphere.
This is probably a case where the party needs to unbutton the top button a little. We’re the better party with the better ideas. We should want those ideas to be disseminated as widely as possible. And if you’re a good Republican, you should want the same for the Democrats and their defeatist ideas.
This issue is a no-brainer in part because it’s really just a formality. Supporters (and opponents) will upload YouTube clips whether the party sanctions it or not. Those who work in politics should stand on the side of online content creators and the free flow of information. To the extent I have a personal stake in this, here it is. As a Web person who works for various candidates and causes, this makes my job easier. Why? More content beats less content nine ways to Sunday.
A corollary of that is this irony: This doesn’t help bloggers so much as it helps the parties and the candidates themselves. Again, bloggers are already posting the clips on their own. Wouldn’t it help if official sites were legally able to post their own “greatest hits” reel, magnifying the impact of a good debate performance or setting the record straight by blasting it to their large email lists? Why should bloggers be allowed to have all the fun?
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