The FCC is a victim of regulatory capture and the current Republican theory of government. If you've missed it, here it is: the government should not do anything besides courts and armies and tax policy.
The FCC was also hindered by the majority Democratic position that regulation of monopolies is a dangerous precedent and that positive economic incentives will work to encourage policy objectives.
It's never 20 years too late to adopt the reasonable position that Internet-connected bandwidth is a prerequisite for participation in the current economic and civic life of first-world economies.
Why should the Democrats support non-means tested welfare for people that overwhelmingly vote for the party that only thinks government should do courts and armies? Why not give people what they vote for?
While I agree, some people will never learn and grow regardless. "Touching the hot stove" doesn't work at national policy scale imho. It's like asking sea creatures to evolve fast enough to be able to exist at the rate of acidification due to CO2 saturation. It just ain't gonna happen. Poor decisions will catch up faster than folks are going to learn.
The consequences of people’s votes don’t matter when political affiliation is handed down within families similarly to religious affiliation. The number of people that say “I vote for X because my family votes for X; we’re X people” is simply astounding.
Expecting rational behavior from irrational beginnings doesn’t work well in my experience.
That Democrats worry about their constituents instead of voting for programs where the benefits go to groups that are overwhelmingly Republican. See for example coal miner pension bailouts.
The FCC was also hindered by the majority Democratic position that regulation of monopolies is a dangerous precedent and that positive economic incentives will work to encourage policy objectives.
It's never 20 years too late to adopt the reasonable position that Internet-connected bandwidth is a prerequisite for participation in the current economic and civic life of first-world economies.