We were on February 26 subjected to the hugest of Barack Obama Administration Internet power grabs. Where the Administration unilaterally decided to start applying 1934 landline telephone law to the 21st-Century-Web.
This government grab was made under the guise of Network Neutrality – but this flashback-to-New-Deal phone law is oh-so-much-worse. The Administration has appointed itself the overlord of just about every private sector decision, transaction and innovation.
This is Mother-May-I-Do-Anything-At-All uber-regulation. It will eviscerate the free-speech-free-market-Xanadu Web we all know and dearly love.
Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz has been an outspoken opponent of all of this. And has been criticized by the Left and the Media (please pardon the redundancy) for the ways he has phrased his opposition.
Ted Cruz Says Net Neutrality Is ‘ObamaCare For The Internet’
Admittedly, we too have long disagreed with this assessment. Sort of. And not in the way the Democrat-Media-Complex has.
Net Neutrality Power Grab Is Worse than ObamaCare
And in fact…
What’s Even Worse than Net Neutrality? Government Internet Reclassification to Do It
It’s worse for several reasons. Not the least of which is – at least ObamaCare passed the People’s elected Congress (well, sort of).
Net Neutrality was unilaterally imposed by three unelected Democrat bureaucrats at President Obama’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC). An overwhelming majority of the People’s elected Congress have long been opposed to the entire mess.
When Senator Cruz made the ObamaCare-Net Neutrality comparison – out quickly came the knives.
‘ObamaCare for the Internet’? Net Neutrality, Ted Cruz, and the Danger of Bad Analogies
They REALLY didn’t like the comparison.
The ‘Net Neutrality is ObamaCare for the Internet’ Guy is Running for President
Which is bizarre. They like ObamaCare. They like Net Neutrality. Why the lurching defensiveness?
ObamaCare Is More Unpopular Than Ever
Senator Cruz also rightly described an inexorable result of Net Neutrality.
“Internet should not operate at the speed of government.”
And what does that look like?
Doctor Wait Times Rise As ObamaCare Rolls Out
A Fatal Wait: Veterans Languish and Die on a Veterans Administration (VA) Hospital’s Secret List
FEMA’s Wasteful, Slow Response to Sandy: ‘Disaster Socialism’?
Ebola Crisis: Government Response ‘Far Too Slow’
Why People in The Government Sector Work Slow
Slow Government: Why is Government So Darn Slow?
DMVs, anyone? And how is the government at handling technology?
Healthcare.gov Technical Problems
ObamaCare Vendor Blames U.S. Agency for Website Delays
Another Delay: Open Enrollment ObamaCare Deadline to (Again) Be Moved
Why US Government IT Fails So Hard, So Often
Federal Managers Love Technology but Fear Government is Slow at Adopting It
Agencies Waited Nearly a Month and a Half to Fix High-Threat Vulnerabilities
Why Is the Government Slow to Adopt Cloud Computing?
Government Tech Problems: Blame The People Or The Process?
Why quibble? It’s both. Because government violates the Wallet Rule.
If you go out on a Friday night with your wallet, and you go out the following Friday night with my wallet – on which Friday night will you have more fun?
Government is ALWAYS on someone else’s wallet. It will thus never spend money as wisely or well as we who earned it.
How does the FCC – that just commandeered control of the Internet – do with tech?
Government Agency That Wants To Commandeer The Internet Just Had Their Website Crash – Twice
Vice Claims FCC Website ‘Hacked,’ FCC Doesn’t Appear Sure
Vice was right – the FCC was clueless.
And how’s this for additionally reassuring?
FCC Says It Wasn’t Hacked, Its Commenting System is Just Old
How quick is the FCC to expedite their decision-making process – now that they have oh-so-many-more decisions to make? Remember – just every Internet provider now has to wait to do just about anything unless and until the FCC approves. The private sector is frozen in amber until the Commission gives the thumbs-up.
FCC Delays Net Neutrality Decision
FCC Delays Decision On Wireless Broadband
(For Second Time) FCC Delays Decision On NBC-Comcast Merger
FCC Delays Review of Comcast-Time Warner Cable and AT&T-DirecTV Mergers
FCC Asks Federal Court to Delay Decision on Challenge to Its New USF Plan
FCC Delays Decision on TV Nudity, Profanity
And perhaps the quintessential example of the delay-damage government will do? Behold this story from March 23, 2015:
FCC Fines TV Station for Nudity
When did the offense occur?
A Roanoke, Virginia, station accidentally aired a brief pornographic video clip during its evening newscast on July 12, 2012….
Nearly three years it took the government – to make a decision the private sector would make in about three seconds.
Won’t Internet-at-the-speed-of-government be great?
Editor’s Note: This first appeared in Red State.