If it’s not broke, don’t fix it: The case against net neutrality
Posted in Sound Off Soapbox by R Lee Wrights on May 31st, 2010 by Barry Fagin
In 1996 some conservative groups attempted to regulate the Internet in the name of “protecting the children.” Their attempt, the Communications Decency Act, was found unconstitutional in a 9-0 Supreme Court decision.
Today, however, the latest risk to the future of the Internet comes from the left. It’s called “net neutrality.”
In early May, the FCC announced its intention to regulate the Internet through the adoption of net neutrality rules. This would be a huge mistake. The fact is that net neutrality is a solution in search of a problem.
The Internet is an American success story. It is a classic example of what happens when you let markets satisfy human needs. While it is absolutely true that the roots of the Internet lie in funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the ’70s, since then government has correctly adopted a largely hands-off attitude.
I have a friend who believes that religious ideas are dangerous, and his opinion is shared by many. He points out that colossal amounts of cruelty, destruction, death, and torture have been done in the name of God, while very little (maybe none) has been done “in the name of atheism.” While this is technically true, I feel that continuing to rail against the dangers of religion in the 21st century is really beating a dying horse when the cruelty, destruction, death, and torture has pretty much picked itself up and moved into the camp of secular government.
Adhering to a pattern of behavior that has developed over the years, a tiny contingent of gun prohibitionists paraded outside of the Charlotte Convention Center while the National Rifle Association was hosting its record-breaking members’ meeting, but they remained only long enough to get some camera time with local news crews.
“Well, you Sons of Bitches, now you know how I feel!”
The next justice of the Supreme Court could well cast the deciding vote on the constitutionality of ObamaCare. And that justice will almost certainly preside, during the next thirty years, over dozens of cases which could very well chip away at the DC v. Heller decision, telling us which gun laws the court views as “constitutional” and which “unconstitutional.”
This may come as a shock to collectivists, but narrow-minded, prejudiced, rude, stupid bigots have the same rights as everyone else.
If there’s any committee more politicized than the Texas textbook and curriculum committee, it’s the Libertarian Party’s Platform Committee.
“I like money.”
