The Internet was a symbol of freedom. It was a forum where everyone could engage each other equally, free from the oppressive fetters of overbearing government regulation. Was is the proper verb.
Today (Feb. 26) that freedom ended. Today, the Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 to regulate the Internet and those who provide it. Nothing good will come of this. Take it from someone who knows, this is a bad deal for everyone.
Even though the big Internet service providers feign unhappiness with this decision by the FCC, it is designed to drive out every small operator and every competitor. No small Internet business has the resources to satisfy the regulatory appetite of this big government gone wild.
This should offend everyone equally: Democrats, Republicans, leftists, rightists — everyone. Free Internet, which was never really free, now has a new middle man. The federal government has now made it their business, which essentially means they want their cut, for doing nothing.
It’s identical to the Affordable Care Act, which wasn’t about health insurance so much as it was about the government getting in the middle and taking their cut. Healthcare didn’t get cheaper or more accessible or better in anyway. It just became more expensive because of the new middleman called the federal government. And the healthcare insurance companies got richer.
The Internet equaled freedom: a vast, worldwide marketplace of ideas, products and services being bought and sold without the oppressive hand of the government pushing up costs.
Similarly, our healthcare used to be between us and our doctors.
That was before Uncle Sam got involved.
— Mike Simon, Glen Ellyn
