Net Neutrality: The FCC Chair Is Drunk on Ideology

Ajit Pai is drunk on free market economics. There’s no other way to explain his decision as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission’s to tear up the nation’s net neutrality rules for no good reason. Contrary to the view of some critics, Pai is not corrupt. Yes, he was a lawyer for Verizon, a fierce opponent of net neutrality, but his decision to scrap the rules was not motivated by a desire to win favor with his former bosses in the telecom industry. Instead, the problem is that Pai is a zealot. Pai’s speeches and tweets, described below, reveal how he’s in thrall to an ideology that places economic principles over people. In this way, he’s a bit like Latin American socialists who cling to theories no matter the real world harm they wreck. Pai is drunk on market ideology, and the rest of the country is about to suffer the consequences of his bender.