Paul Ryan Takes Huge Donation From AT&T As It Lobbies To End Internet Freedom

We now have another reason to kick Republicans out of office this November. House Speaker Paul Ryan has taken more donations from AT&T than any other single candidate. What AT&T is trying to buy through our corrupt political system, is new legislation designed to force consumers to pay ISP’s more money for less Internet freedom, less privacy, less competition, and less affordable Internet access, especially in rural parts of the country.

Basically, the telecom industry wants Speaker Paul Ryan to get rid of consumer-friendly regulations, so a handful of very rich corporations can get even richer.

According to DSL Reports:

‘Telecom lobbyists are pushing hard for a rewrite of the Telecom Act, this time with a notable eye on cutting FCC funding and overall authority.

AT&T donated at least $70,000 to back Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, and clearly expects him to spearhead the rewrite and make it a priority in 2017.

The push is an industry backlash to a number of consumer friendly initiatives at the FCC, including new net neutrality rules, the reclassification of ISPs under Title II, new broadband privacy rules, new cable box reform and an attempt to protect municipal broadband.’

Here’s the problem. Telecom companies are not happy with government regulations on how they can treat their customers. They don’t want to be banned from throttling speeds, data mining, or spying on browsing history. And they really don’t want any competition because that might force them to keep their pricing fair and reasonable. They want to carve out unregulated monopolies all over the country so they can offer only the most profitable services, and only to people who can afford to pay whatever outrageous prices they want.

Here’s another side of the problem. In order to survive, the Internet needs the most number of people to have open access to as many parts of the world wide web as possible. Every person that’s cut off, for any reason, is one less customer for advertisers, and one less piece of data so-craved by ISP’s, the NSA, FBI, and anyone else who wants to turn information into something else.

The combination of these problems and Paul Ryan’s moral ethics, or lack thereof, is the corporate mentality. For the most part, it’s focused on the next quarterly profit report. Like a hungry wolf, all that matters is the next kill. If wolves thought about the long term balance of the entire food chain, they would be less likely to starve to death when the food supply dried up.

While multi-billion dollar corporations might see eliminating government regulations as the best way to give themselves more money, they’re missing an obvious flaw in that plan. The more they charge their customers, the more they limit the number of customers they can have. In the short run, they can boost profits by charging fewer people more money. But there is a point of diminishing returns. These corporate parasites are either aware of that and don’t care, or they are not as smart as they want their stockholders to think.

Corporate Terrorism: An Unwinnable War

Income inequality is much more than a social and economic chasm. It’s the result of a myopic corporate mentality infected with an insatiable appetite for money. It could be argued that anyone who is never satisfied no matter how much they have, is suffering from a mental health disorder. It could also be said, that wealthy people who spend their entire lives obsessed with piling up more and more wealth are the most destructive life forms on the planet.

Historically, when the gap between rich and poor gets too wide, upheavals result. Pick a revolution, war, or social movement at any point in human history, and you will find its roots in human suffering under the heavy hand of soulless, political corruption.

Politicians like Paul Ryan and corporations like AT&T represent everything America wasn’t supposed to be when our Founding Fathers put the Bill of Rights on paper. Where did we go wrong? The voting booth. Not the ones filled with citizens on Election Day; the ones left empty by people who think voting doesn’t make a difference.

***

*** Maryann Tobin is the author of “Afterlife: The Journey Of A Dog’s Spirit” 

This heartwarming story is told through the eyes of an animal spirit that has been sent back to earth in the body of a small dog. His mission is to help a young woman discover that their destinies are more connected to the powers of the Spirit World than either of them ever imagined. If you’ve ever shared your life with a dog or any other pet, you will never look at them the same way again after reading this book. Afterlife: The Journey of a Dog’s Spirit is available now on Amazon.com.