SOPA: Do Not Panic Yet*

[fae_boleyn]

OK, so, like almost everyone around here on LJ (and Facebook, and Twitter, and Tumblr) I’ve heard about SOPA and what it could mean. I’ve gone through the motions of spreading the word and contacting my representatives, because it’s my right to do that. But, I do want to tell everyone this; it’s not time to panic yet. At the moment, the bill is in the House. But here’s the thing. Even if it passes the House, it has to get through the Senate. The House is Republican-controlled, and the Senate is Democrat-controlled. Partisanship generally sucks, it creates deadlocks and things like that, but in this case it very well might work to our advantage. If SOPA passes the House, that means the Democrats in the Senate might reject it on the simple basis of it having Republican support. Also, it very clearly is to benefit corporations, which is something Democrats tend to frown on. And, even if, by some shocking chance, it does get past the Senate? It has to get signed by Obama. There’s a rumor going around that Obama has sworn to veto it - I don’t know if it’s true. But while I’m ambivalent about Obama and always have been (I liked Clinton in ‘08 and Obama never did win me over, sorry) it does seem like something he’d refuse to sign. So odds are we’ll be all right. Don’t stop spreading the word, of course, it can only help to let the people in D.C. know what their constituents think, but don’t panic or make plans to move to Canada just yet either.

*Also posted to Tumblr