Adam Gottschalk

A neutral net is key to a working democracy

I've been using the internet every day since the early '90s. I remember the first time I ever saw an advertisement online--I was stupefied and I saw in an instant the direction the invaluable democratic resource that the internet could go--a bad and profiteering direction. Over the last 15 years I've watched as being an internet user has gone from being associated with geek-dom to being a part of every-day life. I have seen its empowering and edifying effects on people from all walks of life. I use my website and blog to tell the world about my opinions, knowledge, skills, expertise, pet peeves, etc. I know I have many avid readers and fans. I am disabled with MS; my contributions in the forms of my site and blog are nearly the only contributions I am able to make anymore. Don't give me, or any other citizen, the short end of the stick. WE built the internet, not the big companies; it belongs to the people. If allowed, it will come to be one of the most valuable tools in a working democracy. If you let the Big Guys have rights to something that's not even theirs, chalk one up for fascism--Mussolini himself said, "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power." Keep corporations where they belong--outside of the public sector.