GOP platform slams FCC as stuck in the 19th century

The Republican Party's 2012 platform includes a section devoted to ripping the Federal Communications Commission as out of date.

"The most vibrant sector of the American economy, indeed, one-sixth of it, is regulated by the federal government on precedents from the nineteenth century," the party writes. The FCC was created in 1934, but it took over some of the responsibilities that had belonged to the Interstate Commerce Commission, which was created in 1887 to regulate railroads. "This is not a good fit," the GOP writes. "Indeed, the development of telecommunications advances so rapidly that even the Telecom Act of 1996 is woefully out of date. An industry that invested $66 billion in 2011 alone needs, and deserves, a more modern relationship with the federal government for the benefit of consumers here and worldwide." The party accuses the Obama Administration of being "frozen in the past."