Here is the one way to be effective in sending a message to politicians. Make them worried about keeping control of their power. That is what they are most afraid of. The reality is we are in an excellent situation to do this given the split electorate in our country. Both parties want to win Congress and next time around the White House. So, we simply need to let them all know we do no want them taking away our right to play poker.
I have heard many good suggestions about joining the PPA, making sure you vote, sending letters to congress, etc… All of these are excellent ideas which need to be kept up over the long haul to have the desired effect.
However, I don’t think we all desire to wait two years until carve out legislation and regulation is introduced in our snail pace legislative branch. Therefore, we need to act to make sure politicians do not go any farther with this crackdown. The only way to do this is to make them afraid of the consequences of inflicting this legislation on a group of people who are probably as evenly divided politically as the rest of nation. In other words we are a very very large group of swing voters.
Neither party can truly afford to alienate a voting block of such a nature, unless they feel we are of no threat to their success. So, we need to show them we can impact their control of power. My answer is quite simple, we focus our efforts as individuals at a single point where the most pain can be inflicted.
For this election, that point is the Senate race in Missouri. This race is currently at a dead heat and can still swing either way. I could have picked Tennessee also, but I had to choose and this race has been tied for a long time. See map (
http://www.electoral-vote.com/).
For the record, I am a life long Republican, but unfortunately it was our idiot leaders who snuck passage of this garbage legislation into another bill without debate. So, the common sense response to me is protest this action by supporting the Democratic effort.
By the way, who wins or loses is far less important then presenting a demonstration of the will to impact future elections. This is what politicians are truly afraid of and will respond to when they think about enforcing this legislation or possibly passing legislation against the players, or whether or not to include a poker carve out. This is also why it really doesn’t matter if the Democratic candidate in Missouri (or the party) is truly in favor of the action. We simply want to demonstrate we are swing voters who will have our say in a painful manner.
Since we cannot all vote in Missouri as we are not all residents we need to do the next best thing (which may in reality be a bigger thing), which is send financial support to the democratic candidate. The amount we send does not matter, $10 a person is significant ($100 is better if you can afford it). Note, each of these candidates will spend around $3 - $4 million dollars on this campaign so if we could add $250,000 to $1,000,000 (there are 120,000 + members of the PPA alone) to this amount all centered around a single issue this would be very very significant, and very very noticeable.
Also, it is quite simple you just go to Claire McCaskill’s web site and there is a place to make a donation with your credit card. (Hopefully she will not place any bets with the money for you as this would be illegal now). Even if we are too late in the game for the money to get spent effectively, it is the action and amount of impact such an action can have which is most important. This will pay the dividends in future actions by politicians. The web site is:
www.claireonline.com .
I also recommend we use a common subject line in sending an email around the donation: Donation to Claire McCaskill’s Senate Campaign to Keeper Poker Available - $10. You can change the amount at the end if you desire. I would also recommend you at least put a short note in the email. This shows you took a little time to take action. It will also create more recognition when a large number of donations are associated with identical email subjects. This will let them know the effort is organized, which is a more powerful threat to them. Lastly, copy the PPA, her opponent Jim Talent, Bill Frist, the White House, and any others you find appropriate. Take a screen shot of your donation when you send it from the web site so they know you really did it.
By centering our donations we will create a spike which is visible to all involved. Since, the next election cycle will be equally contested even the winner this time will have second thoughts about the actions they take in the future to avoid a similar activity (which we will have far more time to prepare for). I am quite certain it will have the desired effect, which will be a lack of enthusiasm to take this any further and most likely a much faster poker carve out.
Spread the word to everyone you know and any organization you can. Encourage others to pass on the idea.
Please join in this effort !
Regards,
Mark
Additional email links of interest:
1. Very specific media campaign
a. Rush Limbaugh
i. Largest voice in radio, and a conservative
1. Can generate a wake up call to conservative voters and therefore politicians
2. Can make conservatives aware of the danger of outcasting a swing vote
3.
rush@eibnet.com
b. Bill O’Reilly
i. Largest voice in television
1. Somewhat of an independent
a. Quirky enough that if enough voices come his way he may pick up on the story
b. Will be a conduit to other media outlets
c.
Oreilly@foxnews.com
c. Large Missouri paper
i. This will make the state aware their race is being impacted by a specific interest group
ii. Their coverage will spread to other news organizations
iii.
letters@kcstar.com
iv. Above is letters to the editor
2. Bill Frist
a. He needs to know what he has done
b.
bill_frist@frist.senate.gov
3. Both Missouri Candidates
a. They need to know we are causing an impact, then word will spread in the political arena
b.
http://www.claireonline.com/
c.
http://www.talentforsenate.com/
4. George Bush
a. He won’t personally read the email but probably has someone who does
i. If enough email comes in it will gain notice
ii.
comments@whitehouse.gov
5. Republican and Democratic National party orgs
a. So they take notice of the effort and are afraid of the consequences
b.
Chairman@gop.com
c. Don’t have one for DNC, only a form on the website
6. PPA
a. They need to use the communication for evidence during their lobbying efforts
b.
email@pokerplayersalliance.org
7. Every poker site
a. If you are a member, send them an email
b. Ideally you want them to put the counter-offensive link on their site as that will get donations from players who don’t participate in the forum
8. Poker media
a. Same reasons as above
b.
ideas@cardplayer.com
c.
editor@pokerpages.com