A Gamer in Congress: Q&A with Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.)

Rep. Jared Polis represents the 2nd District of Colorado. A conventional Democrat in some respects, he also supports many causes that matter to libertarians: legalizing marijuana and hemp, restraining NSA surveillance, reforming copyright and patent laws, and making space for the virtual currency Bitcoin.

His background as a businessman is in Internet commerce and his background as a child of the 1980s is video games. Indeed, Polis is not just a congressman but an avid gamer. And when legislation such as the Stop Online Privacy Act threatened gaming culture and free expression more generally, he asked gamers to help him put the proposal on ice.

Reason's Scott Shackford recently sat down with Polis in his Washington, D.C. office to discuss video games, his positions on surveillance, and why he thinks gamers skew libertarian. Read Shackford's profile of Polis in the June issue of Reason magazine.

About 12 minutes.

Camera by Amanda Winkler and Josh Swain. Edited by Alex Manning.

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