Republicans are not representing their Constituents
At the Congressional Hearing on March 11, it was very obvious that outside of the halls of Congress, Net Neutrality and Internet Free Speech is very much a Bipartisan Issue. PCMag covered the Net Neutrality hearing, which resulted in this incredible quote by Michele Combs of the Christian Coalition, “The Christian Coalition and NARAL agree on almost nothing here in Washington, but we do agree that Verizon censorship … is wrong,” Combs said. “There should be a free and open Internet for all consumers.” Ars Technica also noted the incredible diversity of Net Neutrality supporters.
Strange bedfellows indeed . . . The Christian Coalition showed up to defend net neutrality, saying that it had a right to talk “without a phone or cable company snooping into our communications.” Spokeswoman Michele Combs cited Verizon’s blocking of a NARAL text message, AT&T’s censoring of a Pearl Jam webcast, and the recent Comcast debate over BitTorrent traffic. On the other hand, the ACLU… actually, the ACLU agreed with the Christian Coalition.
And what are the Republicans doing? They’re ignoring their constituency and claiming that anti-trust action is the answer, an answer that favors large corporations over small businesses, individuals, and non-profit organizations, especially since the Courts have been stacked with conservatives. It’s much easier for Corporations to out-lawyer the little guy. Keeping the issue in the courts is what resulted in Local Loop Unbundling, the best pro-consumer regulation to ever come down the pike, to be overturned one jurisdiction at a time. And that one regulation, LLU, is what has resulted in a vibrant and thriving internet in other countries, ones which are now reported as having better broadband internet infrastructure buildout, access, speed and price than we do, despite us being the country who invented the internet.
Republican and Libertarian voters, you’d be wise to take a look at what the CongressCritters you voted in are doing. If you don’t consider this at the next election, you may find that your Free Speech on the internet may one day be taken away from you.
