You may be right that things will look much the same here in a year, but that doesn’t mean things haven’t changed. There were a lot of Republicans who were all for some of the stuff Bush passed that worried me, and who scoffed at the idea that the changes were disastrous. If the conservatives had joined with the liberals who were screaming about them, maybe Bush wouldn’t have gone so far. When Obama made use of those changes to his own advantage, *then* conservatives screamed, but of course by that point the liberals thought it peachy keen fine.
When people ignore the implications of a law because the law doesn’t immediately change things, or because they like the guy the law empowers, then that law gets harder and harder to change. Look at how Obamacare is being implemented, and it’s clear that the people making the most dangerous changes know how things work. The law gives them sweeping powers, but they only make use of those powers incrementally, so people don’t notice how much things have changed.
It’s only in retrospect that most people realize how much things have changed, and can then see the impact of these sorts of laws.
Here’s something that I’m trusting WILL CHANGE as a result of this. I’ll just give you the example from my own personal details, so you know what I’m talking about.
I currently pay for 150 Mbps down and 20 Mbps up for Internet service at $100 a month. And I get Netflix, and they currently pay for their Internet service (both speed and capacity) for all the customers they are streaming to. I can’t tell you their cost on that, because I’m not privy to it. I would imagine that they’re paying one heck of a bill, but that’s their business and they DO HAVE TO pay for the service to have each of their customers access it at the right speed and for the capacity to serve all their customers.
So far, so good. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. I pay for my access at whatever level I want and need (some pay a lot less for less capacity and speed, but that’s their choice). And Netflix pays for their service and what they need.
Each of us pay for increasing levels of service at an increasing price ... which again ... is the way it should be and the way it is.
AND ... I will note that my 100 Mbps down is WAY OVER NECESSARY SPEED AND CAPACITY to get the Netflix movies. One only needs about 15 Mbps down to do that at HIGH RESOLUTION and it will work fine. I have IN EXCESS ... about 135 Mbps ... that is just idle and available if necessary!
NOW ... here is what I am confident will be DECLARED ILLEGAL by this action at the FCC. It is the “THIRD CHARGE” being levied, in which a telecommunications company attempts to “hold their customers hostage” to force Netflix to PAY THEM MORE, or elese their own customers at that telecommunications company won’t get the service, even when they have PAID FULLY FOR THE SERVICE!
This is what Comcast did with Netflix in which they made it so that their OWN CUSTOMERS could not get Netflix without having problems. It didn’t matter if the customer PAID FULLY for 150 Mbps down for a 15 Mbps movie, Comcast THROTTLED IT to make sure that their own customers at Comcast would COMPLAIN TO NETFLIX!!
SO ... what Netflix ended up being EXTORTED TO DO by Comcast is paying several millions of dollars to get a “special deal” in which Comcast would take off the THROTTLING of their own customers (never mind they paid fully for the full capacity of their own accounts) and they created a SPEED LANE for Netflix.
The day after Netflix PAYS THE EXTORTION all the customers of Comcast got their movies without any problem ... LOL ...
NOW ... “THAT” is what will be ILLEGAL ... namely those THIRD CHARGES (beyond what Netflix already paid for full access and speed and beyond what the customer paid for full access and speed) ... and it will make THROTTLING ILLEGAL and it will make SPEED LANES ILLEGAL!
And for that, I say ... Good for them! ... :-) ...