Obama’s Affordable Internet Plan

After settling healthcare and fixing the immigration system, defeating racism and single-handedly stopping global warming, the President has now turned to improving the internet.

This is not a joke.

In preparation for the State of the Union address next week, Obama has been making “preview” announcements about issues he plans to address. “Since I’ve only got two years left in office,” he said, “I’m kind of in a rush.”

The topic on Wednesday was “Affordable High-Speed Broadband for All Americans.”

He plans to ask the Federal Communications Commission to do away with state laws that he says hinder broadband competition. He’ll also offer incentives to local communities to provide their own internet service. Obama says this will increase opportunities for businesses and students (not to mention making streaming Netflix movies faster).

He tried such a scheme last year, which the Wall Street Journal called “ObamaCare for the Web.” In reality, the President’s proposals would take away the competitive edge that has made the internet so innovative. When the federal government exerts control over any market, it slows its growth.

Reclassifying broadband as a public utility would force current providers to compete with the government and actually increase cost to consumers. Worse, there’s only a short distance between regulation and censorship. Do we really want the government providing our internet service?

This is a classic case of Washington meddling with local governance.

The FCC apparently did not comply with Obama’s suggestions last year. Now he’s turning to executive action to accomplish his agenda.

Haven’t we seen this show before?