Railroads and telephone companies are regulated. AFAIK, telecoms can't just refuse service to people because they disagree with their politics. Likewise, a toll

Railroads and telephone companies are regulated. AFAIK, telecoms can't just refuse service to people because they disagree with their politics. Likewise, a toll-road can't just say, "we're not letting traffic from X company use this infrastructure." Private companies that sell cars are de-facto incapable of refusing service to certain groups, since another entity can just by the car and resell them to the banned party. Private common carriers like UPS and whatnot are also bound by similar rules if I'm not mistaken. I think it is fairly unprecedented that many of the pieces of infrastructure central to running a business are increasingly owned and run by companies that are allowed to refuse service to people on a whim. At least unprecedented since the early 20th century.