Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) blasted today’s decision by the Republicans majority on the Federal Communications Commission to repeal the Obama-era Net Neutrality rules that guaranteed everyone equal and uninterrupted access to the Internet.
Sanders called it “a disastrous decision,” adding that it “will impact every American.”
Sanders added, “It will give a huge advantage to big corporations over small businesses, big media companies over smaller media outlets.”
Sanders vowed that this is not a final decision because it can be overturned by Congress if it survives challenges in the Judicial system.
“We’ve got to do everything we can,” said Sanders, “to defeat this in the court’s and through legislation.”
This is the end of the internet as we know it. In Congress and in the courts we must fight back. #NetNeutrality pic.twitter.com/ExKx7LFZwj
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 14, 2017
Sanders also retweeted the Associated Press view of the new rules.
This is an egregious attack on our democracy. The end of #NetNeutrality protections means that the internet will be for sale to the highest bidder. When our democratic institutions are already in peril, we must do everything we can to stop this decision from taking effect. https://t.co/8GGrJFMdrU
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 14, 2017
Sanders also warned just before today’s vote that this comes at a terrible time.
At this moment when our democratic institutions are in peril, ending #NetNeutrality protections would be devastating. The FCC must vote against ending a free and open internet. https://t.co/e4TIILhlR8
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) December 14, 2017
Sanders also tweeted a link to the recent article in The Nation which states that this FCC reversal of the Net Neutrality rules – which have not stalled innovation as opponents claimed when it was passed in 2015 -jeopardizes “core protections for online free speech and competition.”
Calling the Trump administration “recklessly authoritarian,” The Nation writes that nothing “poses a greater threat to the democratic discourse than the…plan to gut net-neutrality rules.”
“With newspapers dying,” adds The Nation, “radio syndicated, broadcast television commercialized beyond relevance, and cable television mired in scandal and dead-end punditry, the Internet is the essential tool for the communication of ideas and the mobilization of those who choose to resist the autocratic impulses of Trump and his crony-capitalist cabal.”
Once again, Sanders is a voice in the political wilderness speaking truth to power, and representing the interests of the 99 percent of Americans who work for a living, who try to raise families and work toward a better society in a peaceful world.
And once again Trump and his administration are ignoring the will of the majority to help pad the pockets of the big companies and the super-rich who contribute to their campaigns.
The only bright spot, as Sanders points out, is that this fight is not over. There will be lawsuits filed, some by state’s Attorney Generals, and there will be legislative efforts, especially if Democrats can win back the Congress in November 2018, to once again ensure we all can use the Internet, and not be throttled by big, greedy monopolists.
