Trained Seals and Beltway Insiders

[tcmay@got.net (Timothy C. May)]

At 2:23 PM 9/17/95, Dave Banisar wrote:
>>
>>The Cypherpunks group is not like that. Lacking any formalized leadership,
>>and--most importantly--lacking offices in D.C., we can't be asked to
>>perform like the usual trained seals who produce the soundbites that fit
>>into the stories too many reporters want. Again, a weakness and a strength.
>
>Hey! Bark Bark Bark Bark
>
>Dave (partially trained seal protesting that description)


Well, sorry for letting my rhetorical excesses come to the fore!

On even days I think the work of the Washington lobbying/policy groups is
very useful, even if not always done the way I would do it. (Having grown
up just outside D.C., nothing would ever get me to live in that area again,
though.)

On odd days, I think of them as "Beltway insiders," with the same handful
of "spokeswonks" handling all of the issues, dealing with all of the press
conferences, attending the various D.C. events, and essentially being part
of the System.

I never did memorize what all those "estates" are, as in the Third and
Fourth Estates. But I think the Washington crowd has several components:
The Gubment (itself divided into several branches), the Press, the
Contractors, and the Lobbyists.

The "think tanks" which ring D.C. and other areas (Brookings, Cato, the new
Progress and Freedom Foundation, the military advisory think tanks, and a
dozen or more others) are an industry unto themselves. Add to these the
various lobbying groups (NRA, AMA, tobacco, Right to Life, etc.). And throw
in various national groups with D.C. offices. Quite a stew.

They all play off each other, with the lobbying groups trained to "give
good sound" to the reporters who want some quotable line about child porn,
or Clipper, or whatever.

Any conclusions for us? Maybe, but I won't touch them here.


--Tim May

---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
tcmay@got.net  408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
Corralitos, CA              | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^756839      | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."