As pretty much everyone knows by now, a 61-year-old mail carrier flew a gyrocopter to the Capitol because he thinks our campaign finance laws need to be overhauled.
There’s a lot about that story to love.
First, it’s a gyrocopter. How awesome is that? Only a jetpack would have been better. There may be days when folks in DC (and other places) are told not to go outside and breath, but finally the future is here!
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Second, and more fundamentally, our noble gyrocopter pilot presents an interesting commentary about the state of our democracy.
I get that our campaign finance system is not in a good place. I understand and empathize with the pilot’s frustration at not being able to be heard on it. In some ways, it strikes me as similar to the young black men who rioted in violence.
I suspect that we all agree that what it means to be in a democracy is that, at some level, you should be able to raise your voice against what you dislike and have an opportunity to try to create change.
So, if you want to bring about change — if you’re angry about something your government is doing — and you want to be heard, let’s think about your options:
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- Write a letter to Congress
- Start a blog
- Vote
- Become active with an advocacy organization
- Stand on a street corner and give a speech
- Loot a CVS
- Fly a gyroplane onto the grounds of the Capitol
This list is, of course, not exhaustive. But I think it’s close to representative.
Yet here’s the problem — the stuff that isn’t illegal likely won’t work. Or, to be more precise, if you’re interested in doing something that is more than merely checking a box about expressing your views — rather than engaging someone else about what their views should be, the non-illegal stuff won’t work.
Sure, you can write a letter to Congress and receive a heartfelt response from a 19-year-old intern. But, other than changing her mind before she goes back to college, your chances of being heard beyond a mailroom are slim.
You can vote, and you should, but if the candidates don’t vary much on the issues you care about that’s not a super satisfying resolution.
And giving a speech on a street corner went out of fashion in the 19th Century.
The problem is that right now we have a massive surplus of content, a deficit of attention, and a number of people who want to see real change.
If democracy is about more than process values — if it’s about more than giving everyone a chance to talk while no one listens and nothing gets any different — then, in our modern society, democracy may just require some illegal acts.
If you don’t have a ton of money or a good amount of fame, to get attention on an issue you need spectacle. And one nice thing about flying a gyrocopter on to the Capitol grounds is that it creates a pretty big spectacle.
The state of policing in Baltimore got a massive amount of attention after the riots and looting there. Our gyrocopter pilot was able to publish on campaign finance reform in the Washington Post. (though there are limits to that)
(And, yes, landing a gyrocopter on the Capitol grounds is a lot less harmful to property and persons than rioting — I’m with you. I’m making a different point from the perspective of the looter/gyrocopter pilot. Aside from the potential prison time involved, I think we can generally agree that it is better to land a gyrocopter some place you aren’t supposed to where no one gets hurt than to riot.)
That said, what’s the criminal justice system supposed to do?
The gyrocopter pilot has apparently rejected any plea deal that requires him to go to prison, saying that he shouldn’t go to prison because his was an act of civil disobedience.
On one hand, if what he’s saying is that he didn’t really do anything that bad, just merely illegal, so while he should be punished, the punishment should be light, then that makes sense. Presumably, the reason we have a law against landing a gyrocopter on the Capitol relates to terrorism, rather than protesting. If he’s outside the scope of the folks the law intended to punish, you can see a good and reasonable argument that he should get a lighter sentence.
On the other hand, if what he means is that civil disobedience should be a defense — that the government shouldn’t prosecute people who violate the law to make a point — then I think that doesn’t work. The point of doing something illegal to make a point is that you’re doing something illegal. If the government declines to do anything when you do something illegal for political reasons, the power of doing the illegal thing diminishes.
If there’s a designated “Politically Motivated Gyrocopters Land Here” area at the Capitol, pretty soon, we aren’t going to care about people landing gyrocopters at the Capitol.
The pilot says he may take the case to trial. In light of his Washington Post piece — titled “I flew a gyrocopter onto the Capitol Lawn to save our democracy” — I’m not sure how that defense would work, unless it’s nullification.
Which, to be clear, I would be all for.