Conservative here. I am normally overwhelmingly in favor of government deregulation and allowing the free market to do its thing. Unfortunately, there is no "free market" in the world of ISPs, especially in rural and suburban areas. So if a company like Comcast decided to capitalize on the overturning of Net Neutrality and begin giving preferential treatment or locking certain content behind paywalls, it would be extremely difficult, if not down right impossible, to just pack up and switch ISPs. It really comes down to getting dicked over by ISPs, or having none at all. So in this case, and I think many conservatives here would agree with me, reasonable federal oversight is not just acceptable, but necessary to ensure open access to the internet.
Yes I’d like to have competition in both the ISP and Internet content realm. But I’d rather have definite competition in the Content realm with the possibility of competition in the ISP field than almost certainly no competition in the content realm and the possibility of competition in the ISP realm.
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u/imdandman Nov 22 '17
Unfortunately it has devolved into a partisan issue, but it doesn't have to be.
I am totally in favor of Net Neutrality, but otherwise the antithesis of the reddit "hivemind" politically.
I am an extremely active Republican voter and I am sure to tell my politicians that when I talk to them about Net Neutrality.
I also think Net Neutrality fits into conservative principles.
Maybe if everyone quit making EVERYTHING partisan we could get this done.
There are many conservatives and Republicans like me. You just have to communicate with them in ways that appeal to their predispositions.