Just when it seems like the rabid right wing whack job, and walking delusion that is Senator (ugh) Ted Cruz (R-TX) cannot get any dumber, he trots out the following gem on Twitter in reaction to President Obama's support for Net Neutrality:
Of course, Cruz is hoping that by attaching the dreaded "Obamacare" word to something, he's going to just immediately see a groundswell of support in opposition to it. Because Obama is bad! And Obamacare? Even Worse!
For starters, let me indulge Ted Cruz and pretend that Net Neutrality is, in fact, "Obamacare for the Internet".
No, really, hang on a second.
Obamacare was designed to give people access to affordable health care. We can (and should!) quibble over the Devil and the Details therein, but that was the stated goal of the Affordable Care Act, and lo and behold, the number of Americans without health insurance since the law became functional has plummeted.
Obamacare has literally - LITERALLY LITERALLY! - been a lifesaver to many Americans, including David Tedrow of North Carolina, as this WaPo story detailed the other day.
Net Neutrality, which is designed to make sure that American citizens are able to have access to the Internet - a core tool in today's modern, digital, 24/7 world of obtaining news and information, seeking employment, conducting business, and staying connected to friends and family - would in a nutshell seek to prevent Big Telecom, like Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, and their ilk from instituting Internet "Fast Lanes" by which your service is slowed to a crawl, or worse, content is functionally censored - unless you have the means to pay up and get faster service.
Hm.
Maybe Cruz is on to something.
No, stay with me. Don't head for the exits yet!
Our healthcare system, even with Obamacare, is functionally a "If you can afford it, you can have the best healthcare IN THE WORLD!!!!".
But if you can't afford it? Well, like Alan Grayson once said, you can do everyone a favor by dying swiftly if you get critically ill.
Obamacare has helped to level the playing field a little more. With coverage that's become affordable for millions, and things like pre-existing conditions no longer preventing someone from getting insurance....it's a great step in the right direction.
But anyway.
Back to Reality we go, and Ted Cruz is still a fucking moron. Why?
Because although Obamacare does functionally get involved in healthcare, through the mandates, subsidies, new regulations, taxes, etc....Net Neutrality? "Speed of Government"? Nice soundbite, but it's unfortunately immediately flawed.
Net Neutrality will help ensure that we aren't forced to pay what amounts to "Protection Money" to Big Telecom in order to access what has become a very vital utility to modern life.
"Speed of Government"? I'm afraid of being a victim of The Speed of Big Business and Wealthy Interests more than I will ever be afraid of the "Speed of Government".
Rest assured, if Ted Cruz is against it, you should almost certainly be for it.
After laughing your ass off at Calgary Cruz, that is.