FEC backs off plan to regulate Internet

The Internet isn't totally out of the woods with the news we're sharing here, but at least it's something positive. The FCC still intends to regulate the Internet in the manner of a 1930s-era telephone company, meaning the ObamaNet continues to loom over everyone. But at least the FEC is backing off - for now - on a plan to squash free speech by demanding that everyone who uses the Internet to express political opinions file spending reports with the federal government. And the best news is that it was public pressure - it still works if you use it, folks! - that forced Democrat commissioners to back down:

---

The commissioners, in a Washington meeting, sought to calm a controversy that started last fall -- when incoming Chairwoman Ann Ravel said a "re-examination" of the agency's approach to the Internet was "long overdue." This triggered concerns that the campaign-finance regulator could try targeting YouTube videos and other posts to make sure their creators file spending reports. But after the FEC received thousands of public comments opposing Internet intervention, Ravel stressed Thursday she was "never" proposing any such rules. "There is no such regulation," Ravel said. To affirm this, Democratic Commissioner Ellen Weintraub proposed a motion, which Ravel backed, formally excluding "political activity on the internet" from an ongoing regulatory effort concerning contribution limits. Weintraub said she wanted to "allay" the public's concerns, and "make clear that we're not" pursuing Internet regulation. Republican Commissioner Lee Goodman, who for months has warned the FEC was looking to extend its regulatory reach and had pointedly accused Ravel of setting her sights on the Internet, declared victory shortly after the meeting ended.

Needless to say this is a welcome development as far as it goes, but what makes you think the FEC won't come back and try to sneak this through at some point in the future when the public isn't paying as much attention. The federal government's power grabs are usually quiet and incremental. Liberals understand how to play a long game. They take what they can when they can, and then they make it virtually impossible for Republicans to ever reverse their progress by calling upon their media allies to scream that women and children will be set on fire or grandmothers will be thrown off cliffs or whatever needs to be said. The good news is that public pressure can make them back down. The bad news is that public pressure has to be pretty much all the time, in thousands of fronts, all at once, or they'll just keep marching forward. The political class exists to serve itself and the public has to be in a constant state of combat with them just to throw up minor obstacles in their way. That is a much bigger problem. A president who wants to bureaucracy to serve the public would be a good place to start, but the public hasn't made that choice of late. I guess they'd rather constantly fight spot fires like this.