Government-Imposed Net Neutrality: Twice Bitten - Not Shy About a Third Try

networkneutralityWhy does the federal government appear so adamant to again blatantly ignore the law power grab the Internet and re-impose Network Neutrality?   After all the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already tried it - twice.  And been unanimously rebuked by the D.C. Circuit Court - twice.   Each time the attempted power grab grew in size and scope.  The first involved a single Internet Service Provider (ISP) after an alleged single violation.  (Which of course would have opened the door for greater grabs to follow.)  Howd that go for the government?  Court: FCC Has No Power to Regulate Net Neutrality  Indeed it does not.  So why then - just seven months later - did this happen?  Divided FCC OKs Net Neutrality Rules  The three Democrats voted Yes.  The two Republicans - No.  How very ObamaCare of them.  If the FCC cant impose Net Neutrality in an individual instance what made these Democrats think they can preemptively enshroud the entire World Wide Web?  Of course they cant.  U.S. Appeals Court Strikes Down FCC Net Neutrality Rules  So thats it right?  The federal government - twice chided for overreaching - will finally leave the free speech-free market Xanadu that is the Internet alone right?  Not so much.  President Obama Confident FCC Will Use Authority to Save Net Neutrality  Wait a second - what authority?  Six different judges on two different unanimous occasions have said the FCC doesnt have any such authority.   But since when has the clear intent of the laws and the Constitution - and the rulings of the courts charged with upholding them - stopped President Barack Obama?  After all he has a pen and a phone.  Could the President mean this authority?"  The FCCs Nuclear Option on Net Neutrality  Make ISPs Into Common Carriers Says Former FCC Commissioner  Reclassification Is Not a Dirty Word  It certainly should be.  What does it mean?  Go back in time to 1934 (and even before) and illegally impose landline telephone (Common Carrier) regulations on the Web.  The government regulates the daylights out of landlines so Progressives want the government to jam the Web in there too.  Which would allegedly allow them to reimpose Net Neutrality and tax the Net and….  Thats not existing authority - its an even more gi-normous new power grab.  Im sure pens and phones would be involved - joining the century-old phone regs.   What says Tom Wheeler - the Presidents new FCC Chairman?  FCC Chair Tom Wheeler Says Hell Fight to Preserve Open Internet Doesnt Say How  How about by leaving it alone?  We had three years with illegally-imposed Net Neutrality - and three decades without it.  And the Internet has all along been doing - well best-in-human-history-levels of extraordinary.  Wheeler: The Court Invited the FCC to Act and I Accept That Invitation.  Why?  To address…what?  The Internet is amazing - without these uber-regulations.   Why does nearly everyone in Washington feel the need to impose the maxim It aint broke - and well fix it."  Because the DC fixes are always so fabulous.  FCCs Wheeler Vows to Take Next Steps on Net Neutrality Shortly  Heres a good next step:  FCCs Pai Says Agency Should Close Broadband Reclassification Docket  And then the FCC should do…nothing - while waiting for Congress to update the woefully out-of-date 1996 Telecommunications Act.  Since its from that law that the FCCs authority emanates.   All the pro-Net Neutrality folks could (and should) then stop trying to end-run Congress - and get unaccountable FCC bureaucrats to do their dirty work.   And instead attempt to convince our elected officials that dramatic new Internet regulations are a good idea.   Oh yeah - that hasnt worked so well for them.  Net Neutrality: The Kid Sitting By Himself in the High School Cafeteria  The already-diminishing pro-NN push began - rightly - in the House Congress being the only proper venue for this sort of thing. But it repeatedly went NOWHERE.  So in 2007 the pro-NN gaggle bailed on Congress - despite the new Democrat majorities - and instead went for a totalitarian Federal Communications Commission (FCC) implementation.  Where they only had to get three votes from unelected bureaucrats - rather than 218 from the Peoples representatives.  All 95 Congressional Candidates Who Supported the Net Neutrality Bill Lost the Election  So the Left turns to tyranny.  Heres hoping Chairman Wheeler wont give it to them.
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