My friend and fellow blogger, Mike Krempasky, will testify before a Congressional Committee today to urge the enactment of the Online Freedom of Speech Act, legislation that would exempt communications over the Internet from regulation under campaign finance laws.
His testimony is thoughtfully written, forceful and directly challenges the Members of the U.S. Congress Committee on House Administration. Here are a few choice excerpts:
- The blogosphere is, in the simplest sense, not a broadcast medium. Consumers of news and information are not passive participants, they actively seek out the content they want. They have millions of choices at their fingertips. The power of the blogosphere is its amazing speed combined with a vast array of distributed resources. Many small voices speaking together consistently outweigh the well-funded interests. Bloggers don't have influence because they start with large chunks of capital — in fact, most if not all start out as relatively lonely voices with tiny audiences. By delivering credible, interesting, and valuable content — their audience and influence grows over time.
- Time and time again, it is the new media — bloggers — who fill the information gap. The vast resources of the blogosphere as a whole, its expertise, creativity and motivation — dwarf any newsroom in the country. Free of the constraints of bureaucratic hierarchies and concerns of column inches, blogs can provide news coverage that is both faster and more in depth than anything the mainstream media can hope to provide.
He has posted his complete testimony on RedState.org.
Good luck Mike. Make us all proud.
