I've never really considered Republican politicians especially smart. They have guys like South Carolina Senator Lindsey "their going to kill us all" Graham and Louie "nobody plus nothing equals everything" Ghomert. Still, it always amazes me when the Republican party comes up with a new tactic like saying, "I'm not a scientist" to explain their irrational denial of global warming. Well, I'm not a scientist or an airline pilot, but I suspect if the planes on fire and we're heading down, we're probably going to crash. One of the topics in the news currently is Net Neutrality. A move by cable companies to charge online companies more for fast Internet while giving the average user slower speeds. Not surprisingly, the Republican party is on the side that hurts consumers and enriches their benefactors in the cable industry. To accomplish this the Republicans have trotted out a number of lies which an article in
Mother Jones debunks.
1. Taxes will go up.
Obama wants the FCC to regulate broadband companies. There is a tax to make sure people in rural areas receive the Internet according to the Communications Act. But that's no guarantee the cable companies will have to pay it.
2. Net Neutrality hurts innovation and job creation.
This may be the dumbest argument of all. Three words; Google, Facebook, and Twitter. All were created under the current Net Neutrality rules and all are job creators. Since when is the Republican party against job creators? I guess it's just another lie the Republicans tell. I received an email from the CEO of Time Warner maintaining that the merger with Comcast would spur more innovation. My question is that isn't the past innovation of Time Warner and Comcast due to the competition between the two? A merger would actually mean less innovation and higher cable bills.
3. Monopolizing bandwidth will encourage cable companies to create more bandwidth.
America has horrible download speeds compared to the rest of the world. Not because of a need for bandwidth. But because due to deregulation cable companies have carved out areas where they have no competition and no incentive to improves services. That's why Comcast and Time Warner lead the pack when it comes to poor service.
4. Net Neutrality proponents are trying to hype the risks of global warming.
Here's the reality from Mother Jones.
Regulating broadband providers as utilities does not give the FCC more authority to tell them how to treat specific types of content. In fact, preventing discrimination against certain types of content by ISPs is the whole point. That's why net neutrality is popular with everyone from John Oliver to porn stars.
Why are the Republicans willing to tell bald face lies to change the system? Money. Cable companies are huge campaign contributors to Republican politicians. Unless the average Internet user gets involved, the FCC will show the cable companies the money and change Net Neutrality rules. Click
here to let the FCC know you are against the cable companies charging Internet content providers more for fast Internet. These extra costs will raise you cable bills, stifle innovation, and slow down your Internet speeds.