Proponents of the measure argue that California's closed primary election system results in political extremists being elected on both ends of the spectrum, because it limits voters' choices to candidates within their own party, and excludes 1.5 million independent voters from voting in primary elections at all. This, they maintain, contributes to legislative gridlock, and stacks the deck against more moderate "problem solvers."

ss other things that offend some people. With over 30 million Internet users in the U.S. alone (only 3 million of which surf the net from home), everything is bound to offend someone. The newest wave of laws floating through law making bodies around the world threatens to stifle this area of spontaneity. Recently, Congress has been considering passing laws that will make it a crime punishable by jail to send "vulgar" language over the net, and to export encryption software. No matter how small, any attempt at government intervention in the Internet will stifle the greatest communication innovation of this century. The government wants to maintain control over this new form of communication, and they are trying to use the protection of children as a smoke screen to pass laws that will allow them to regulate and censor the Internet, while banning techniques that could eliminate the need for regulation. Censorship of the Internet threatens to destroy its freelance atmosphere, while wide spread encryption could help prevent the need for government intervention. The current body of laws existing today in America does not apply well to the Internet. Is the Internet like a bookstore, where servers cannot be expected to review every title? Is it like a phone company who must ignore what it carries because of privacy? Is it like a broadcasting medium, where the government monitors what is broadcast? The trouble is that the Internet can be all or none ofthese things depending on how it's used. The Internet cannot be viewed as one type of transfer medium under current broadcast definitions. The Internet differs from broadcasting media in that one cannot just happen upon avulgar site without first entering a complicated address, or following a link fromanother source. "The Internet is much more like going into a book store andchoosing to look at adult magazines." (Miller 75). Jim Exon, a democratic senator from Nebraska, wants to pass a decency billregulating the Internet. If the bill passes, certain commercial servers that postpictures of unclad beings, like those run by Penthouse or Playboy, would of coursebe shut down immediately or risk prosecution. The same goes for any amateurweb site that features nudity, sex talk, or rough language. Posting any dirty wordsin a Usenet discussion group, which occurs routinely, could make one liable for a$50,000 fine and six months in jail. Even worse, if a magazine that commonly runssome of those nasty words in its pages, The New Yorker for instance, decided topost its contents on-line, its leaders would be held responsible for a $100,000 fineand two years in jail. Why does it suddenly become illegal to post something thathas been legal for years in print? Exon's bill apparently would also "criminalize private mail," ... "I can call my brother on the phone and say anything--but if I sayit on the Internet, it's illegal" (Levy 53). Congress, in their pursuit of regulations, seems to have overlooked the fact that themajority of the adult material on the Internet comes from overseas. Although manyU.S. government sources helped fund Arpanet, the predecessor to the Internet,they no longer control it. Many of the new Internet technologies, including theWorld Wide Web, have come from overseas. There is no clear boundary betweeninformation held in the U.S. and information stored in other countries. Data held inforeign computers is just as accessible as data in America, all it takes is the click ofa mouse to access. Even if our government tried to regulate the Internet, we haveno

Some common words found in the essay are:
Television Telephones, Intervention InternetDuring, Playboy Penthouse, Constitution E-mail, Penthouse Playboy, X-rated Internet, Secretary State's, Pgp262dczip Proposition, Guide Proponents, California Journal, proposition 198, political party, public key, free speech, political parties, primary elections, california voter guide, 1996 california, data encryption, voter guide, california voter, 1996 california voter, based public key, proposition 198 included, journal 2/96 proposition,
Approximate Word count = 3875
Approximate Pages = 16 (250 words per page double spaced)