Good News For Utah Politics!

Pete Ashdown is running against Orrin Hatch for Senate!

For those of you who aren't familiar with Utah politics, Hatch is the guy who thinks it's a good idea to require technology that would allow the RIAA to remotely destroy (physically damage) a user's computer if they think they are pirating software or music. He sponsored a bill that would require everyone to install a GPS device on their vehicles so that the state could tax people's mileage, rather than just taxing the gas, since so many vehicles are getting better gas mileage now, and the state isn't receiving as much revenue from gas. These are just a few of the ideas that Hatch has had. I may have to come back and elaborate more, because this guy is just a complete idiot when it comes to technology, and he's sponsored not only idiotic bills, but ones that would violate our rights.

Pete Ashdown is the founder of the first independent ISP in Utah, XMission. He has a wiki that I hope to check into further later today. He has some really good ideas, as shown in the Wired News interview today.

I'm really excited to have ANYONE running against Hatch, but for it to be Pete Ashdown is really exciting to me. It's only in the last year or two that I've begun to care about politics, and I haven't had the opportunity to delve into Utah politics very much. I'm definitely going to be watching Pete Ashdown, and learning more about what his ideals are. If he is the type of candidate I think he is, I will definitely be talking to people, hoping to make a difference in the outcome of the election. We don't just need Hatch out, we need someone like Pete Ashdown in!

Note: The above was originally posted on another blog, but I am moving all of my political writings from there to this one, in an effort to be more organized.