Obama's Internet takeover
Obamacare, the VA scandal, the IRS
scandal--these are just a few examples of what happens when we
give government huge power without oversight.
It's about to happen again--the Obama Administration is fighting
for a government takeover of the Internet and the Federal
Communications Commission is going to vote on it February 26th.
That's why I am writing you today--I need your help to stop
this.
President Obama came out a few weeks ago urging the FCC to vote
to regulate the Internet the same way that it regulates public
utilities under Title II. What this means is that, for the first
time, billions of dollars in fees will be attached to Internet
service just like they are to telephone service.
You see, under Title II if someone wants to own a telephone
company, there are fees baked into the law--fees companies pass
on to customers.
Now, under this new regulatory regime, Internet service
providers will be subject to these fees as well, and then pass
them on to you, the consumer.
This is essentially a
massive tax increase on the middle class, being passed in the
dead of night without the American public really being made
aware of what is going on.
The Internet is built on speed and dynamism, it’s always
changing, there are always new and better ideas that are
exploding onto the scene, and part of the reason for that is
that innovators are not having to go ask Washington, DC for
permission every time they want to do something new.
What this really comes down to is a fundamental
question:
Who do you want in charge of the direction of the
Internet: people at dot-com startups that brought us game
changing companies like Facebook, Google, Twitter, Amazon
and Uber; or nameless, faceless, unelected bureaucrats in
our nation’s capital?
There is another aspect of this that gets overlooked: the
Internet is an incredibly important force for freedom, for
liberty, and the rights of free speech that we hold dear. It is
an existential threat to tyrants in countries like Iran, Saudi
Arabia, and Russia who seek to keep information from their
people.
We must preserve the high ground for the United States to stand
up to these countries and tell them to keep the Internet free
and preserve free speech on the Internet throughout the world.
We cannot do that if we are regulating the Internet in a similar
manner ourselves.
I am not accusing anyone of sinister motives here, but I am
deeply concerned about the idea of any government bureaucrat
having the power to tell companies what they can and cannot do.
In the long term, this could have a chilling effect on political
speech, in ways that today we could not even begin to imagine.
We do not have much time left to stop this gigantic government
takeover of the Internet. The FCC is voting on February 26th and
the Left is mobilizing to support their effort to do so. We
cannot let the conversation be totally one-sided. The FCC needs
to hear from us today--not tomorrow or next week or next month.
Today.
Please join me and go sign the petition to keep the Internet
free. We must stand for liberty and preserve the Internet
free of government interference.
Thank you for standing for Internet freedom.
Sincerely,
Senator Mike Lee
Republican-Utah
|