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JP Hollembaek is a 27-year-old college student, a social rightsactivist, and an Iraq War veteran—he's also the country'sfirst-ever Pirate Party candidate, and on Tuesday Hollembaek filedpaperwork to run for state representative in Massachusetts. Like other Pirate Party members, Hollembaek scoffs at copyright andpatent laws, believing intellectual property should be shareduniversally. But some of their other ideas are lessradical—government should be more transparent, corporationsaren't people, and the Internet shouldn't be censored. [ Kopimism, Sweden's Pirate Religion, Begins to Plunder America ] "Copyright is where the Pirate Party started, but that's justone plank," Hollembaek says. "We've decided focusing onpersonal privacy and government transparency is our major issue.The government knows too much about what we're doing, and we don'tknow enough about what they're doing." Hollembaek will challenge incumbent Democrat Thomas Golden Jr. inMassachusetts' 16th Middlesex District, which servesLowell—about 30 miles from Boston. Golden has held office for14 years and hasn't been challenged in four. But even if Hollembaek doesn't win, that's not the point, he says. "We're building an institutional memory of the party. Rightnow, I'm the face, but I'm doing this so I can let people knowwe're here," he says. "Even if I lose, the party willwin." [ The Pirate Bay to Fly 'Server Drones' to Avoid Law Enforcement ] Although Hollembaek is the one running for office, the party'sofficial "captain," James O'Keefe, has been helping himalong the way. O'Keefe knows a thing or two aboutelections—he ran for treasurer of Massachusetts in both 2002and 2006 as a member of the Green-Rainbow Party, scoring 16 percentof the vote in 2006. O'Keefe and a few others formed the Massachusetts Pirate Party in 2010 after seeing the party's success in Sweden and Germany. Inthose countries, members of the Pirate Party sit in legislativehouses. While the Massachusetts Pirates were inspired by thoseparties, O'Keefe says his party is different. "That's the thing about pirates—we're willing to borrowfrom one another. People can take and remix and reuse as theyplease," he says. "We're going down our own path. Swedenhas a different electoral system, a different culture. There arelimits to what we can do here." For now, that means starting small and focusing on local races.Since 2010, about 30 people have officially registered to vote aspirates in Massachusetts. About 40 people attended the party'sfirst annual convention in March, where they talked about runningfor office, fighting copyrights, and Kopimism, the file-sharingreligion. [ Internet Service Providers Close to Implementing System to PunishPiracy ] So far, similar parties have been set up in Kansas, Washington,Oklahoma, and Florida, although Hollembaek is the first PirateParty member to run for office. He'll have an uphill race against Golden. According to Tim Storey,an elections analyst with the National Conference of StateLegislatures, just 23 of the more than 7,000 American statelegislators are from a third party or independent. Every electionyear, about 10 percent of candidates in general elections aren'taffiliated with Democrats or Republicans. In recent years, libertarians, the Green Party, and the Tea Partyhave emerged as potentially viable third-party candidates in stateelections. New England might be an ideal location for the PirateParty to make inroads. The Vermont Progressive Party is the mostsuccessful third party in the country, holding seven seats in thatstate's legislative bodies. "Massachusetts is democratic with a capital 'D,'" saysO'Keefe. "But years ago, it was Republican, and the majorityof the voters are registered independent. More people here areinterested in hearing about some alternative ideas." Jason Koebler is a science and technology reporter for U.S. News & World Report. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at jkoebler@usnews.com. Read Scientists Warn of Ethical Battle Concerning Military Mind Control. Read Porn Companies File Mass Piracy Lawsuits . Check out U.S. News Weekly : an insider's guide to politics and policy . I am an expert from chromepistonrod.com, while we provides the quality product, such as Hard Chrome Plated Rod Manufacturer , Hollow Round Bar Manufacturer, Hydraulic Piston Rods,and more.
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