The Pirate Party prepares a raid on Capitol Hill (from a '92 Buick)

The Pirate Party prepares a raid on Capitol Hill (from a '92 Buick)
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Avast, ye hearties! Congress is about to get invaded by a pirate, if Stephen Collings has his way. Collings, 25, a Nashville-based design engineer, hopes to become the first U.S. Representative endorsed by the U.S. Pirate Party, which seeks to reform copyright laws and use technology to empower civic participation in government.

Today, four leaders of Collings's party are touring the country in a maroon 1992 Buick LeSabre, including administrative officer Ryan Martin, 28, who quit his job and sold most of his possessions to embark on the recruiting tour. On Wednesday, the Buick was in Atlanta. "The LeSabre is worth $100 and in terrible condition, but we're using next-generation technologies like couchsurfing.org," says Martin, whose possessions include a Nokia n800 internet tablet "in a military-grade housing," the clothes on his back, and not much else.

In two years of existence, the Pirate Party has attracted 7,000 registered members and 61 Facebook friends, and has joined the international Pirate Party movement, whose Swedish member Christian Engström recently won a seat in the EU's European Parliament. Copyright reform is a central Pirate Party plank, but it also advocates for issues including privacy, government transparency, and press freedom. The party has gained little traction in the U.S.

Until he joined the party six months ago, Martin worked as research and development engineer at Indiana University. He says he dropped out of high school at 17 and self-educated himself online: "I had full access to more education and people than I ever had in high school." Collings's political platform is based on three issues: a balanced budget, congressional process reform, and election reform. But his other positions include opposing the death penalty and taking a hard line on illegal immigration. A devout Christian, Collings opposes gay sex but supports gay couples' right to the same privileges as heterosexual married couples.

"What I oppose most strongly are the terrible arguments people make against gay marriage," Collings says. "Nothing ticks me off worse than a bad argument. Something like a third of children in this country are born to unmarried parents. People get married and divorced repeatedly as if it's nothing. Marriage is already treated in a completely unholy manner in this country. The idea that gay people getting to use the word 'married' is somehow going to add to that is totally absurd."

Another troublesome word is "pirate." "That's bad branding, especially in any district near Nashville," says Harvard law professor and copyright activist Lawrence Lessig. "But in general, the platform of the party is sensible; it's the marketing I'm skeptical of."

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