You're right Mr. Cruz. Net Neutrality is like Obamacare for the Internet.

2014-11-11

US Senator Ted Cruz recently issued an apparent non-sequitur comparing Net Neutrality to Obamacare. However, on further reflection, I am surprised to find he may have a point. In fact when you think about, the similarities are quite shocking:

  1. The US broadband system, like the US healthcare system, trails far behind the rest of the developed world in terms of performance and affordability.
  2. Obama has proposed regulation that will help bring corporate incentives in line with those of their customers. The regulations are widely regarded as an improvement by experts in the field.
  3. Republican lawmakers, at the behest of their corporate sponsors, attack the plan with factually incorrect and misleading arguments, while offering no solution of their own.

Mr. Cruz, like the rest of the GOP is very open about saying what he's against but is silent on the topic of what he is for. We can infer from his stance opposing net neutrality that he seems to be for the US falling further and further behind the rest of the world in terms of Internet accessibility.

I'm sure this makes little difference to him, as he and Comcast will continue to be able to line their pockets throughout America's declining ability to compete with countries with a free and open Internet. The rest of us, however, will probably not be so lucky.

Originally published 2014-11-11 11:39:39