What can we do?

[Aisthesis]

Ok, the law passed and Bush will definitely approve it. That leaves as many as 270 days for them to decide how to enforce it. What can we do about it at this stage?

I think we need a petition that makes a serious effort to pick up the support of as many American players as possible. The petition needs to be widely publicized on all of the forums. I'm suggesting this here first primarily because to my knowledge, 2+2 is the biggest poker board and also has a lot of high-profile players, including some players such as Raymer, who also has legal background and did a lot of work earlier in trying to get the law stopped BEFORE it passed.

I hesitate to try drafting a petition like this myself because I don't have a lot of experience with it. I think it should be short and straightforward, so that players don't have to spend an enormous amount of time reading through the details, and it should at least include the following components:

1) A declaration that those who sign will not cast their votes for any politician who supports such legislation--attached should be a link to or a list of exactly those Senators and Congressmen (ordered by state, because we're talking about votes here, and including political affiliation; the party lines are relatively clear here, but I think we should try to stay as non-partisan as possible). The state of those who sign should also be included so as to indicate just where the votes are coming from.

2) Poker is a game of skill.

3) The usual (and valid) freedom of adults to decide what activities they wish to participate in. On this one, one can obviously go on and on, but I think it's important for this kind of petition not to be too lengthy.

For the moment, I really hope that some of those here might try to agree on something along these lines. I think we should also try to do this as quickly as possible (with elections coming up) without sacrificing substance.

Poker players wield a lot of votes in the U.S., and I don't think we have yet really tapped into that resource, largely because there are so many different forums, sites, etc.

If something can be done, I'll be happy to publicize it on bet-the-pot, where I'm also a regular poster. I would also hope that others would circulate a petition like this in any venue where they feel like they might have an influence.

I really think this is an issue where there are still some things that can be done, and the internet also allows very rapid wide circulation. I don't think we've exhausted all the possibilities yet.