We need to have a talk about the federal bureaucracy (via Net Neutrality)

a major argument of actual economic conservatives and those on the right worried about government overreach (which includes libertarians) is the authoritarian status of our "4th branch of government" the bureaucracy. this is the child of lazy legislators, the power-hungry executive branch, and the entire industry of 'DC insiders" (aka, the "Swamp")

i saw a poster-friend on FB telling his liberal friends to take their complaints about the FCC ruling on NN to their Congressman and i chuckled. while it's theoretically possible to have Congress enact change, that's very unlikely. this is solely a regulatory decision straight from the area of government that big government liberals LOVE: un=elected, unaccountable, bureaucrats

this entire fight began when the Obama admin could not get Congress to pass a law to offer the alleged protections necessary. so, they go to the bureaucracy. all that happened was that the FCC in 2015 declared that the internet was a public utility under Title 2 of the Telecommunications Act. it's very likely that this designation was not ever thought possible by the Congress who passed this law, considering it was passed in 1996 (it was passed to replace the 1934 version that was written primarily to regulate telephones in an era of different interstate commerce powers of Congress)

the bureaucracy is the ultimate "loophole" or "government cheat code" one earth. the internet was clearly never intended to be a utility when the law was passed. however, due to a lazy Congress who deferred its power to the executive and a lazy/weak executive 20 years later who wanted change, we allow a system where the law is fundamentally changed by the will of people who have no skin in the game. also, they are under almost no real control to keep these rules consistent. The FCC giveth and the FCC taketh away.

so while the merits and criticisms of NN can be debated forever (especially before we see what market participants actually do in response to the new regulations), this is an ample talking point to discuss the absolutely terrible system of government that we have that cedes far too much power (of our almost totalitarian federal government) to an un-elected, unaccountable, and faceless group of people whose interests are expanding government in order to not only keep their jobs, but to get more budgetary power within their department so they can act big and bad. these people, along with lobbyists who manipulate the systems the bureaucrats work within and the industries they work for eventually, are why NOVA some of the most wealthy areas in the entire US.