Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Total deregulators? Not hardly.
Leftist talking point heads like Maddow and Rhodes are calling Republicans the supreme deregulators. This is true but only half the story.
The real pattern: if a law hurts ordinary Americans, or hurts real American business, brand-R will impose the law and strengthen enforcement.
If a law harms foreigners or gets in the way of the super-rich "borderless" class of Americans, brand-R will revoke the law or refuse to enforce it.
Comrade Nixon began environmental regulations and affirmative action, and brand-R have carried on and strengthened both ever since. Both place burdens on small business and farmers, and give a comparative advantage to big corporations which already have armies of lawyers. Enviro-tyranny and diverso-tyranny also drive companies to outsource manufacturing in countries with less severe laws.
Comrade Bobdole wrote the ADA, which has imposed burdens on business and led to less employment of disabled folks.
MC McCain wrote regulations on political speech which made it harder for ordinary people to run for office and sway their representatives, and easier for the super-rich and foreign agents.
Tariffs and other trade restrictions are known to help real American business, so brand-R has removed them and given us NAFTA, CAFTA, etc. Immigration quotas help lower-skilled American workers, so R has refused to enforce them, giving a benefit to rich Americans and poor Mexicans.
Copyright law provides a nice all-in-one example. For most of the 20th century, American copyright law was well balanced, giving a limited period of protection to anyone who registered a copyright, and allowing the protection to lapse later on, so others could publish an interesting piece or use some elements from it.
Working through a corrupt filthy Republican puppet named Mary Bono, Walt Disney changed the law in 1998 to give perpetual protection to everything Walt Disney has ever produced. This also helped other major studios with armies of attorneys, but it was basically about Steamboat Willie.
The result for smaller artists and authors was disastrous. Anything done by the big boys was protected forever, and you had no way to determine in advance whether you were infringing on Walt. Worst of all, you had no way to determine whether you were infringing on some obscure long-dead composer or author who could not possibly send an army of lawyers after you. Result: If you were strictly honest and moral, you wouldn't create anything at all, because nearly every work of text or art uses some elements from older work.
It was a classic example of the NRA slogan: honest people were suppressed, and outlaws (largely based in China and Russia) went wild, copying and selling all sorts of digital media, making it extremely difficult for small artists to earn a living. You can try to send the outlaws a cease-and-desist letter, but they know you're not Walt, so they laugh in your face.
As usual with Republicans, the big boys and the foreigners get freedom and fortunes, and smaller American operators get Kafka.
Just a few months ago the new brand-D Congress passed a modified law, basically using Larry Lessig's thinking. The new "Orphan Works" law says that you must register a piece in a digitally accessible registry if you want protection. This eliminates the perpetual protection for pieces that are no longer truly "property", and gives honest people a sense of security.
= = = = =
9/25: A fresh example. The brand-D Congress has just now eliminated a welfare payment to cities and states here in the Northwest. Tracing the history: in 1907, Teddy Roosevelt nationalized much of the forest land, and he did it the right way. He insured that logging could still proceed in the national forests, and that the loggers would pay royalties to the Feds, which were then passed on to cities and states. Basically a capitalist arrangement.
As the GODDAMN EARTH GODDESS GAIA became our established religion, the Feds (under both parties) prohibited logging, thus guaranteeing huge deadly fires, losing jobs, and dropping the rental payments to localities. Four years ago the brand-R congress decided to do something about this. Did they deregulate? No, of course not. Mustn't sin against GODDAMN EARTH GODDESS GAIA. No, instead of deregulating they simply paid welfare to the localities. And now the brand-D congress has eliminated the welfare, still without restoring Teddy's balanced and effective system. ¶ 7:15 AM
The real pattern: if a law hurts ordinary Americans, or hurts real American business, brand-R will impose the law and strengthen enforcement.
If a law harms foreigners or gets in the way of the super-rich "borderless" class of Americans, brand-R will revoke the law or refuse to enforce it.
Comrade Nixon began environmental regulations and affirmative action, and brand-R have carried on and strengthened both ever since. Both place burdens on small business and farmers, and give a comparative advantage to big corporations which already have armies of lawyers. Enviro-tyranny and diverso-tyranny also drive companies to outsource manufacturing in countries with less severe laws.
Comrade Bobdole wrote the ADA, which has imposed burdens on business and led to less employment of disabled folks.
MC McCain wrote regulations on political speech which made it harder for ordinary people to run for office and sway their representatives, and easier for the super-rich and foreign agents.
Tariffs and other trade restrictions are known to help real American business, so brand-R has removed them and given us NAFTA, CAFTA, etc. Immigration quotas help lower-skilled American workers, so R has refused to enforce them, giving a benefit to rich Americans and poor Mexicans.
Copyright law provides a nice all-in-one example. For most of the 20th century, American copyright law was well balanced, giving a limited period of protection to anyone who registered a copyright, and allowing the protection to lapse later on, so others could publish an interesting piece or use some elements from it.
Working through a corrupt filthy Republican puppet named Mary Bono, Walt Disney changed the law in 1998 to give perpetual protection to everything Walt Disney has ever produced. This also helped other major studios with armies of attorneys, but it was basically about Steamboat Willie.
The result for smaller artists and authors was disastrous. Anything done by the big boys was protected forever, and you had no way to determine in advance whether you were infringing on Walt. Worst of all, you had no way to determine whether you were infringing on some obscure long-dead composer or author who could not possibly send an army of lawyers after you. Result: If you were strictly honest and moral, you wouldn't create anything at all, because nearly every work of text or art uses some elements from older work.
It was a classic example of the NRA slogan: honest people were suppressed, and outlaws (largely based in China and Russia) went wild, copying and selling all sorts of digital media, making it extremely difficult for small artists to earn a living. You can try to send the outlaws a cease-and-desist letter, but they know you're not Walt, so they laugh in your face.
As usual with Republicans, the big boys and the foreigners get freedom and fortunes, and smaller American operators get Kafka.
Just a few months ago the new brand-D Congress passed a modified law, basically using Larry Lessig's thinking. The new "Orphan Works" law says that you must register a piece in a digitally accessible registry if you want protection. This eliminates the perpetual protection for pieces that are no longer truly "property", and gives honest people a sense of security.
= = = = =
9/25: A fresh example. The brand-D Congress has just now eliminated a welfare payment to cities and states here in the Northwest. Tracing the history: in 1907, Teddy Roosevelt nationalized much of the forest land, and he did it the right way. He insured that logging could still proceed in the national forests, and that the loggers would pay royalties to the Feds, which were then passed on to cities and states. Basically a capitalist arrangement.
As the GODDAMN EARTH GODDESS GAIA became our established religion, the Feds (under both parties) prohibited logging, thus guaranteeing huge deadly fires, losing jobs, and dropping the rental payments to localities. Four years ago the brand-R congress decided to do something about this. Did they deregulate? No, of course not. Mustn't sin against GODDAMN EARTH GODDESS GAIA. No, instead of deregulating they simply paid welfare to the localities. And now the brand-D congress has eliminated the welfare, still without restoring Teddy's balanced and effective system. ¶ 7:15 AM
