“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”—simple wisdom that government repeatedly ignores. And there’s no better case in point than so-called “net neutrality.” This week, leftist pro-neutrality groups will hold a day of noise and fear to bully lawmakers into supporting a Congressional Review Act resolution. The resolution would reinstate the FCC’s 2015 designation of Internet service providers as public utilities under Title II of the Communications Act of 1934.
This push for Title II regulation is a fanatical solution in search of a problem. It’s the equivalent of firing a bazooka to swat a fly you think you saw. Perhaps you killed a fly, but now half your house is a smoldering pit. Why? Because, prior to 2015, none of the problems that net neutrality activists fear existed to any meaningful extent.
These activists argue that without Title II, ISPs will eliminate competition, creating an Internet dystopia where you only see what the ISPs want you to see. That certainly sounds terrible – but it’s a claim that completely overlooks the facts. The Internet grew into what we know today without Title II. From 1996 to 2015, the Internet revolutionized the world economy without any systemic examples of the things neutrality activists feared. Unfair use of market share was already illegal and policed by the Federal Trade Commission.
Moreover, to the extent that ISPs do have an outsized share in a given market, it is the direct result of government regulation. In addition to the regulations imposed by the federal government, local governments also erect huge regulatory barriers to network deployment. These regulations jack up associated fees and reduce competition between ISPs. This leads Americans to believe the only thing that can protect them from their ISP is more regulation.
But time and time again, history has shown us that this approach simply does not work.
The federal government previously regulated many industries as public utilities or common carriers. In each instance, competition suffered and, ultimately, consumers were worse off. The railroads famously captured their regulators, the Interstate Commerce Commission, and used the power of government to squash competition from the trucking industry. Air travel used to be a luxury few could afford because of the Civil Aeronautics Board’s price controls. Today, flying is common and affordable thanks to competition from low-cost airlines previously shut out by regulators.
The best example of all is the telephone, which was regulated under a Title II regime that solidified Ma Bell’s telephone monopoly for decades, thwarted development of cellular phones, and prevented Americans from even owning their own phone. Had phones continued to be regulated under Title II, it’s likely we wouldn’t even have the Internet.
Ignoring these realities, FCC Democrats threw ISPs into the same failed model. Caving to inappropriate pressure from the Obama White House, they tore up the bipartisan Telecommunications Act of 1996 and began to regulate the Internet under Title II. The FCC corrected this colossal mistake last year through the Restoring Internet Freedom Order – despite countless reprehensible personal attacks and downright threatening actions, including racist remarks, harassing FCC Chairman Ajit Pai’s family at his home, and a bomb threat that interrupted the final vote on the order.
Now, Senate Democrats, thanks to perennial GOP turncoat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, are one vote away from advancing a CRA resolution that would reward the disgusting tactics of the Left by reinstating Title II regulation. Once again, Democrats would be inserting more government where precisely the opposite is needed.
The fears of neutrality activists are indeed terrifying. But the Internet was not broken and history tells us that Democrat’s chosen “fix” of Title II would only bring us closer to those hypothetical fears. I urge conservatives across the country to get on the phone and on the Internet – technology designed to expand our horizons and enhance our liberty – and make their voices heard.
A new century deserves not only a new mode of communication, but also a new approach to regulation. By rejecting the restrictive model of Title II, we can restore our nation’s commitment to free communication and renew the leadership of the people in enterprise and ingenuity.
Patrick Hedger is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a program manager at FreedomWorks Foundation.
If you would like to write an op-ed for the Washington Examiner, please read our guidelines on submissions here.
