Net Neutrality: Triumph of the Ruling Class
By Jeffrey Tucker from Beautiful Anarchy link Feb 26, 2015
A triumph of “free expression and democratic principles”? How stupid do they think we are?
It’s been painful to watch the gradual tightening of government control in the name of net neutrality. The Federal Communications Commission’s decision to rewrite the rules and declare the Internet as a public utility seals the deal. It cartelizes the industry and turns a “Wild West” into a planned system of public management — or at least intends to.
All the rest is a veneer to cover what is actually a power grab.
This whole plot has had all the usual elements. It has a good name and its supporters say it is about stopping private and public control. It’s had the backing of all the top names in content delivery, from Yahoo to Netflix to Amazon. It’s had the quiet support of the leading Internet service providers. The decision to impose the rule has been declared by a tiny group of unaccountable bureaucrats operating with the support of the executive lame duck.
The opposition, in contrast, has been represented by small players in the industry, hardware providers like Cisco, free-market think tanks and disinterested professors, and a small group of writers and pundits who know something about freedom and free-market economics. The public at large should have been rising up in opposition but people are largely ignorant of what’s going on.
https://tucker.liberty.me/2015/02/26/net-neutrality-triumph-of-the-ruling-class/
“The public at large should have been rising up in opposition but people are largely ignorant of what’s going on.”
Here we have the real reason this and all the recent power grabs by the federal government generally, and in particular by the executive branch, have been sailing through, seemingly unopposed. And the reason why this particular illegal act is so insidious. The people are being collectively cast into an intellectual ghetto, just as their need for political, cultural, and religious enlightenment is at its most acute.