The Worst Example of Government Intervention... Ever

Of all the government interventions by the Obama administration, the plan released Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission to regulate the Internet is the worst.

The Internet is relatively young, fresh, alive and untainted. The FCC’s plan to muddy the pure waters of the Internet pollutes the one free flow of information on the planet.

And what hurts as much as witnessing the pollution of the Internet with bureaucratic interference? With the exception of the Republican FCC commissioners, most are being blasé about the whole thing.

The two Republican FCC Commissioners (out of a total of five) know exactly how important this new plan really is. Commissioner Ajit Pai has called the new FCC plan “a massive shift in favor of government control of the Internet…everything from your wireless service plan, to your wire line connection at home.”

The 332 pages of new FCC rules have been held in secret, and even after Thursday’s vote, they are not being released. Like Nancy Pelosi said of ObamaCare, “We can read it after we vote on it.”

Also inappropriate has been the White House’s role in developing up the new Internet rules. The FCC is supposedly an “independent” agency…it’s supposed to draw up its own rules. But in this process, the White House injected itself right into the rule making process.

Here is Commissioner Pai, speaking to Sean Hannity:

“White House aides have been running a parallel FCC, and they’ve persuaded the president to pick this issue as one where he would make a pronouncement, now, just to let your listeners know, this never happens, hardly.”

One might think that such a power grab would be countered by a Republican Congress emboldened by its historic 2014 victories. But Congressional Republicans seem clueless about what to do now. Republican Senator John Thune, head of the Commerce Committee, has ruled out a Congressional vote against the new rules. Why?

Make no mistake. The greatest tool for freedom of expression to come along in our lifetime is in danger. One cannot have genuine freedom of expression with a government monitor, an overseer, a censor prepared to immediately shut down any “threats” to the state.

More here