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Anyone who thinks that these bodies ever change their mind due to the public comment periods is gullible. The public comment period is mandatory, and it's not l

Anyone who thinks that these bodies ever change their mind due to the public comment periods is gullible. The public comment period is mandatory, and it's not like the FCC commissioners are dying to know the public's thought process and need their input. They have already made up their minds. The value provided by the public comment process is a) an opportunity for the public to get their comments on the record, not because it will change the outcome, but just for the historical value of having their viewpoint officially represented somewhere and b) the opportunity for FCC commissioners to be surprised by a higher-than-normal flood of replies and realize they may need to back something out for political expediency. This is the same way it works when you call your Congresspeople or do almost any other citizen interaction with the government. It's not like your Senator actually cares about your specific opinion and may find it convincing. The proposals supported or opposed by politicians are much larger than any single person's opinion or ideology (including the representative's own). Since Oliver did a segment on net neutrality under the Obama administration (in which he analogized cable lobbyist and then-FCC chair Tom Wheeler to a dingo hired to babysit a child), it really probably doesn't surprise them that a large volume of comments would be directed from that type of source again. It's also probably not surprising that people more likely to fill out an FCC comment form are generally pro-net neutrality.

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JustSomeNobody 9y ago
> Anyone who thinks that these bodies ever change their mind due to the public comment periods is gullible. If people didn't believe things like this we wouldn't have staunch Democrats and Republicans who never vote across party lines.
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ori_b 9y ago
> the opportunity for FCC commissioners to be surprised by a higher-than-normal flood of replies and realize they may need to back something out for political expediency. Close enough to changing their mind for me.
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mcherm 9y ago
> Anyone who thinks that these bodies ever change their mind due to the public comment periods is gullible. It happened less than 2 years ago, on the topic of Net Neutrality. Remember? Tom Wheeler who was a known opponent of Net Neutrality? And the amazing flood of comments CHANGED HIS MIND? Quit spouting off about how it's hopeless to change anything, and instead GO START REACHING OUT TO YOUR GOVERNMENT. (Your suggestion of calling congresspeople is a good one.)
- TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
  And yet here we are facing the same problem again, merely two years later. During that two year timespan, they tried and tried to get legislation through that would kill net neutrality. They just kept pushing until our political will broke down. It should be fairly obvious that democracy has failed. The government does not represent the people, it represents the corporations and lobbyists.
  - deadbunny 9y ago
    Isn't this the exact reason Americans give for having their right to bear arms? Why is there not an armed revolution against the clearly corrupt government?
    - unityByFreedom 9y ago
      Because that's ridiculous and exactly what foreign adversaries would love to see as a result of the currently tense political environment. Plus, violent protesters almost never come out looking good. Any violence coming from the left would just entrench the powers of the right. There are a few exceptions, like the revolutionary war. But, that's a time when American people were separated by great distance from its governing body. Revolution doesn't work when you're connected by land. Some foreign power would just take advantage of our weakness, and all Americans would lose. We need to find a way to work together.
    - cookiecaper 9y ago
      People usually need to anticipate a lot of hardship/uncertainty before they're willing to get into a war. De-prioritizing Netflix traffic doesn't really fit the bill. These issues are much more sophisticated than many people appreciate. Democrat and Republican, all FCC commissioners have a telecom industry background, which causes everyone to posit that they have a bias toward their former employers. But how can you be expected to regulate the telecom industry if you have no idea how it works? How do you establish that someone knows what they're doing if they don't have an industry background? There are a lot of complexities here. That's why our system of checks and balances is so important; it puts clear constraints on the powers of each segment, making it so no segment can get too much control. FCC is an executive-branch enforcement body; it can only do what Congress allows it to do. Congress is at the heart of the governmental ineffectualness in the US. Fixing Congress would take care of most of our other problems.

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JustSomeNobody 9y ago

> Anyone who thinks that these bodies ever change their mind due to the public comment periods is gullible. If people didn't believe things like this we wouldn't have staunch Democrats and Republicans who never vote across party lines.

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ori_b 9y ago

> the opportunity for FCC commissioners to be surprised by a higher-than-normal flood of replies and realize they may need to back something out for political expediency. Close enough to changing their mind for me.

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mcherm 9y ago

> Anyone who thinks that these bodies ever change their mind due to the public comment periods is gullible. It happened less than 2 years ago, on the topic of Net Neutrality. Remember? Tom Wheeler who was a known opponent of Net Neutrality? And the amazing flood of comments CHANGED HIS MIND? Quit spouting off about how it's hopeless to change anything, and instead GO START REACHING OUT TO YOUR GOVERNMENT. (Your suggestion of calling congresspeople is a good one.)

TheAdamAndChe 9y ago
And yet here we are facing the same problem again, merely two years later. During that two year timespan, they tried and tried to get legislation through that would kill net neutrality. They just kept pushing until our political will broke down. It should be fairly obvious that democracy has failed. The government does not represent the people, it represents the corporations and lobbyists.
- deadbunny 9y ago
  Isn't this the exact reason Americans give for having their right to bear arms? Why is there not an armed revolution against the clearly corrupt government?
  - unityByFreedom 9y ago
    Because that's ridiculous and exactly what foreign adversaries would love to see as a result of the currently tense political environment. Plus, violent protesters almost never come out looking good. Any violence coming from the left would just entrench the powers of the right. There are a few exceptions, like the revolutionary war. But, that's a time when American people were separated by great distance from its governing body. Revolution doesn't work when you're connected by land. Some foreign power would just take advantage of our weakness, and all Americans would lose. We need to find a way to work together.
  - cookiecaper 9y ago
    People usually need to anticipate a lot of hardship/uncertainty before they're willing to get into a war. De-prioritizing Netflix traffic doesn't really fit the bill. These issues are much more sophisticated than many people appreciate. Democrat and Republican, all FCC commissioners have a telecom industry background, which causes everyone to posit that they have a bias toward their former employers. But how can you be expected to regulate the telecom industry if you have no idea how it works? How do you establish that someone knows what they're doing if they don't have an industry background? There are a lot of complexities here. That's why our system of checks and balances is so important; it puts clear constraints on the powers of each segment, making it so no segment can get too much control. FCC is an executive-branch enforcement body; it can only do what Congress allows it to do. Congress is at the heart of the governmental ineffectualness in the US. Fixing Congress would take care of most of our other problems.