A little over a week ago, House Republicans began their attempts to turn our government into an old-timey Stalin-esque politburo by floating out a ban on video and camera use in Congress by lawmakers. They were trying to rid themselves of having the American people actually see how full of shit they are when they attempt to pass crap laws or sit on their manicured fingers while the nation waits for them to enact meaningful legislation. Wednesday, the House Republicans voted to adopt their new rules for the 115th Congress, first session—H. Res. 5 allows fines to be imposed on any “Member, Delegate, or the Resident Commissioner for the use of an electronic device for still photography or for audio or visual recording or broadcasting.”
A fine imposed pursuant to this para- 11 graph shall be $500 for a first offense and 12 $2,500 for any subsequent offense.
Democrats are unified in their defiance of this terrible attempt to thwart democratic practices in our country.
“What other ways will they deprive us for communicating with the American people?” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi asked before Tuesday’s vote. The fines come as a response to a sit-in led by Democrats last year, in which dozens of legislators took control of the House floor to urge Congress to pass additional gun-control measures following a mass shooting at a Florida nightclub in June. After the sit-in began, Republicans cut camera feeds to the House floor, and in response, Democratic lawmakers used apps like Periscope to live-stream footage of the protests.
Here’s a visual example of elected officials actually doing what they were elected to do and attempting to get meaningful public safety legislation voted on.
Before the vote, Democrats like Rep. John Lewis pulled out their phones and began taking pictures and videos.
“I’m not afraid. I’ve been fined before. Many of us have been fined before,” Lewis, an architect of the summer sit-in, said in a fiery floor speech before the vote. “We cannot and will not be silenced.”
There have been many people online who have begun suggesting different ways of fundraising for congressional leaders who end up getting fined for trying to inform the American people. Mashable spoke with a man named “Blaine” who wants to fundraise for the coming battles.
So now he's aiming to raise $25,000 — or 10 maximum fines (it's a $500 fine for a first offense and $2,500 fee for subsequent offenses) — through the end of the year. He said the money will go to candidates who are fined for violating the livestreaming rule. Any leftover money will go to two nonprofits, Public Citizen and the Dow Jones News Fund, he said. If the rule is reversed, Blaine said all the donations will go straight to these groups.
The tech community, whose wares will be used to inform the public via smart phones and wifi and the internets, are also being prodded into supporting our democracy. Hunter Walk is a venture capitalist in San Francisco.
One thing that every American must always remember is that all of those hallowed buildings in Washington are OUR buildings. Those elected officials—Republican or Democrat, from the bottom all the way to the orange-puff pastry top—are just our employees working and staying in the buildings that we the people, both free and enslaved built to serve our country’s Constitution.